Blogs

Securing the Living Wage been an elusive quest for many local and state governments--but it is far from impossible.

The money represents the amount that Starbucks unlawfully saved on payroll, by not paying higher wages to California shift supervisors. (San Diego Union-Tribune).

"I feel vindicated," lead plaintiff Chou said in a written statement released by attorneys. "Tips really help those receiving the lowest wages. I think Starbucks should pay shift supervisors higher wages instead of taking money from the tip pool." (Associated Press)

These health evaluations come as two major federal studies confirm that even short exposures to the artificial flavoring can cause tissue damage. (Seattle P-I)

Are you or a loved one concerned about health damage from working around artificial butter flavoring? Brandworkers Legal Defense-Plus may be able to help.

Kris Maher of the Wall Street Journal has an excellent article on the growth of insecure part-time jobs with constantly changing work hours and reduced wages and benefits. Fluctuating work schedules with no guaranteed hours each week are major detriments to the quality of life for retail workers and their families. Here's how it often works at the retail and food chains:

Every week or two, employees will find out their work schedule. Not only do days off change week-to-week, so do the start and end times of shifts. One week you might have Monday and Thursday off and then the following week you'll get Tuesday and Saturday. You might start a week off with a 9am-3pm shift, then do a 1pm-9m shift the next day, only to wake up the following day for another morning shift. You also don't know how many hours you'll get each week, so your precise monthly income is very much up in the air.

The basic idea here from the perspective of workers is that the regular rhythms of family life are seriously disrupted. What time you work each week and on what days is dictated by a computer scheduling system which seeks to deploy labor the way companies deploy other resources - just-in-time for when the company wants them. But despite the treatment they often receive from the corporate giants, human beings are not soy beans or electricity or Barbie dolls.

Workers deserve to be able to schedule their lives around predictable hours of work and predictable monthly incomes. The corporations are pushing in the other direction. The preferred frame of the retailers, their lobbyists, and their public relations firms is the mantra of "flexibility". Flexibility in the 21st century workplace is a convenient frame which seeks to avoid the inconvenient topics of reduced wages, lowered benefits, and schedules which stress flexibility all right, but "Flexibility For Whom", as Professor Elaine McCrate recently titled an academic article on the deleterious effects of schedules over which workers have no control.

In Europe, a public discourse regarding the degraded state of many once secure jobs has emerged under the banner of precarity. Whatever term advocates in other parts of the world choose, a robust public debate including the voice of retail and food workers is needed.

A pressing task ahead for retail workers and their allies is a push back against the tyranny of constantly fluctuating and insecure work schedules. Family life and personal wellbeing is too important to be subjected to the whims of computer scheduling systems and the greed of corporate executives.

A determined campaign, which included overturning the firing of an outspoken union organizer, has resulted in a national union deal for workers at Coffee Bean's cafes in Israel. (Haaretz)

Wal-Mart developer concedes defeat in Monsey, New York after a, "modest yet unweilding campaign" by residents. (New York Times)

In a class action lawsuit which could cover 120,000 baristas, a California judge has found that Starbucks unlawfully appropriated baristas tips to pay shift supervisors. Starbucks sought to avoid paying shift supervisors competitive wages by including them in the tip pool. Damages in the case are yet to be determined. (Law.com) and (San Diego Union-Tribute)

Many people are unaware just how dangerous retail work is; it's a topic the the industry doesn't like to talk about. Let's take a look at the Wendy's fast food hamburger chain over the last week or so.

Fire rescue worker Raphael "Ray" Vazquez was slain in a shooting on Monday at a Wendy's hamburger restaurant in Florida. Four other customers were injured by the gunfire. The employees at the store miraculously escaped physical injury though psychological trauma is likely.

The day before, two Wendy's employees in Illinois were robbed at gunpoint and forced into a freezer by two masked men.

The day after the shooting spree in Florida, a drive-through employee at a California Wendy's was confronted by a robber with a gun.

Last week, a worker at a Wendy's in Oregon was beaten by an armed robber.

351 retail workers in the United States suffered fatal injuries on the job in 2006, the last year for which government data was available. As a point of reference, 190 workers died in the mining industry in 2006, the year of the tragedy at the Sago Mine.

138 of the deaths in retail were due to homicide.

The real risk of violence on the job for retail workers is yet another reason why their economic and social contributions deserve respect.

How to help the family of Wendy's shooting victim Ray Vazquez:

P.B.C. Firefighters Benevolent Fund

Care of Vazquez Family

Union Office

2328 S. Congress Ave.

Suite 2C

Palm Springs, FL 33406

The multinational furniture retailer is set to hit the Big Apple this Summer.

Based in New York, Brandworkers HQ has three get-to-know-you questions for IKEA:

1) Will the IKEA in Brooklyn hide behind subcontractors to exploit its janitorial staff? Check out Clean Up IKEA for background.

2) Why isn't IKEA living up to the social responsibility commitments it has made for its supply chain? Check out Low Prices, High Social Costs: The Secrets in Ikea's Closet for background

3) What did IKEA mean when it said of the forthcoming Brooklyn location that, "store employees would not be unionized..."? The choice to join a union or not belongs to the workers, not IKEA.

Lawyers for Burger King failed to have a lawsuit over the company’s use of artificial trans fat dismissed. Whether it's clinging to harmful trans fats or attempting to undermine an organization of tomato pickers, Burger King seems to be putting itself out there as a seriously retrograde company. We're reminded of Exxon Mobil which even by the abysmal standards of the petroleum industry really distinguishes itself as behind the times by, for example, funding groups of pseudo-scientists to attack the data on global warming. (Center for Science in the Public Interest)