UNION CO-FOUNDER IN US FIRED AFTER CAFÉ PICKET. STARBUCKS CONTINUES CAMPAIGN AGAINST UNION.

Starbucks continues a campaign of union busting in the United States while the IWW Starbucks Union continues to organise. Coffee giant Starbucks is accused of unlawfully terminating the Union co-founder, Daniel Gross.

New Zealand union Unite who won a landmark fast food agreement earlier this year with Restaurant Brands Ltd, have expressed solidarity with Daniel Gross and three other union baristas terminated in the last few months on what they call "exaggerated charges designed to bust a sister union". Gross was fired for "intimidation" after a protest outside Starbucks protesting the earlier firings.

"Unite is disgusted at Starbucks' clear discrimination against the union. Every worker should have the right organize collectively", said Unite Fast Food Organiser, Tom Buckley. The anti-union bias is confirmed in the company’s email auto-reply to thousands of emails protesting Gross’s firing, which claims their work environment "make unions unnecessary at Starbucks."

The contracts we are currently negotiating include the following:

Hotels:

-Spotless employees in hotels: The company is waiting for a legal decision in an employment authority case before negotiating a collective with Unite. We will keep our members posted on developments.

-AM Hospitality: The collective agreement has been accepted by our members and has been signed.

-Millenium Hotels - (formerly MCK Hotels): We have initiated bargaining and we are seeking a national agreement to cover employees in the company’s hotels throughout New Zealand.

Fast Foods:

-McDonalds: Because mediation failed in negotiations with McDonald’s we have initiated with two of the franchise holders to see if we can make progress here. The public campaign to expose McDonald’s anti-worker, anti-union practices will continue.

-Burger King: We have made good progress after the first full day of negotiations on 11th July. We will know when we next meet for negotiations on August 9th whether we are able to achieve an agreement we can recommend to members. If not then we will initiate a public campaign to achieve an agreement.

March from the bottom of Queen Street, Auckland to the Police Station on Saturday, 19th August at 12noon.

This campaign aims to stop the New Zealand Police from introducing the taser stun gun into policing in New Zealand in September. The taser fires two steel barbs at a victim and then gives a 50,000-volt electric shock which incapacitates the victim.

Police in North America have been using the taser stun gun to lethal effect. More than 180 people have died following being tasered in the US. You can get more details at campaignagainstthetaser.com

We reported on this bill in the last Unite News. If it became law this bill would give employers the right to sack any worker within 90 days of starting work without any legal
reason.

This means for example a worker who joins a union within 90 days of starting work could be fired immediately.

This is a vicious piece of anti-worker legislation and the campaign to oppose it is being led by the EPMU (Engineering, Prining and Manufacturing Union) who will be speaking at the meeting along with other groups. Everyone welcome.

Kill the Wayne Mapp Bill – Public Meeting
When: Saturday, 29 July 2006
Where: Trades Hall, 147 Great North Road, Grey Lynn

Auckland’s love affair with SkyCity is starting to crack. Certainly the 1200 union members at SkyCity have had enough and started rolling strikes on Friday, 21 July.

A picket by SEA-Unite union members was erected outside the main entrance from 10.00am today and thereafter at regular intervals.

Chris Tatton-Brown, staff spokesperson for the SEA-Unite Union, says "The final straw for union members was the 'spin' put out by SkyCity after a customer was abducted from the site last weekend. The company claimed that this was an isolated case and customers had nothing to worry about."

"This is not true" says Tatton-Brown "the security guards and surveillance operators, of which almost all belong to SEA Unite, say their safety staff levels have been cut by over 20% since SkyCity open even though it has grown. SkyCity security staff can no longer carry out the safety duties to protect customers they once did."

"Whilst SkyCity has made over $100 million in the last 12 months cut-backs are relentless and customer care and safety has declined."

Wellington will return to the streets on July 21 and August 4, to protest against McDonald¹s refusal to negotiate seriously with Unite Union. Come and join us!

Protest - Friday, 21 July:

Where? McDonalds, Basin Reserve
When? 4:00pm on Friday, 21 July

Protest - Friday, 4 August:

Where? McDonalds, Manners Mall
When? 4:00pm on Friday, 4 August

SuperSizeMyPay.com – three little demands and one BIG campaign!

1. $12 min wage
2. No youth rates
3. Secure hours

The SuperSizeMyPay.com campaign has already had TWO big wins:

1. Unite Union’s collective agreement at Restaurant Brands (KFC, Pizza Hut & Starbucks) gained significant improvements for workers.

2. A law change to give under-18s the same pay as adult workers (from Green MP Sue Bradford), passed its first vote in Parliament.

Now it’s the turn of McDonald’s workers to SuperSize their pay. But in negotiations with Unite Union, the corporate clowns at McDs are digging in their big floppy feet. That’s why SuperSizeMyPay.com needs your support.

Help Cinema Attendants get $12 an hour and End Youth Rates!

Supersizmypay.com is asking the public to show their support for Village SkyCity employees when you go and see “Superman Returns” on Village SkyCity’s new Imax screen or any other movie. Tell them that you support their claim for $12 an hour and No Youth Rates.

•Employees here earn only half the price of the Imax ticket if they are over 18.

•Employees under 18 earn just over a third of the Imax ticket for an hours work.

Village SkyCity only pays the legal minimum wage of $8.20 an hour for those under 18 and $10.25 for adults. Let these employers know its time to supersize their pay.

Equal pay for equal work! No youth rates.

Please support the workers of this cinema in their struggle for $12 an hour.

FRIDAY 23RD JUNE (AND EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT!) - McDONALDS CAMPAIGN CONTINUES WITH ANOTHER "McFIGHT NIGHT" from 5pm to 6.30pm at Point Chevalier McDonalds, Great North Road, Point Chev.

Let's make it a big crowd! Unite Union's SuperSizeMyPay.Com campaign has been relaunched with the focus now on McDonalds. This icon of fast-food is refusing to negotiate a collective employment agreement to provide improvements which Unite Union has successfully negotiated for KFC, Pizza Hutt and Starbucks employees. McDonalds wants to continue to exploit young vulnerable workers. Public support for this campaign will be critical working alongside the young workers themselves.

On 29th June Unite Union will be presenting our submission in favour of Sue Bradford’s bill to abolish youth rates.

Our submission will be heard by the parliamentary committee on Thursday 29th June from 12noon to 12.40pm at the Alexandra Park Raceway on Greenlane Road, Auckland.

Unite will make a submission on behalf of all our members who are employed on youth rates. However our submission will have a lot more impact if young members of Unite who are under 18 are able to come and speak of their own experiences on youth rates.

If you are on youth rates or know someone who is then please contact Chloe on 845 4208 and we will make arrangements for you to speak briefly to the committee on the 29th.

Do you want to know your rights in the workplace? What about your entitlements under the Holidays Act? And how to build a strong union presence in your worksite?

These and many other questions will be answered in the first Unite Union Delegates Training Day for 2006.

We will shortly be writing to employers and union delegates to get approval for our members to attend this important training day which is being held on Monday 17th July at the St Columba Centre, Vermont Street Ponsonby from 8am to 5pm.

If you are a delegate then please mark this on your calendar. If you are not a delegate but you are interested in attending then we will do our best to include you.

Please phone Chloe on 845 4208 to register your interest.
No-one loses pay by attending this course. Your employer pays fopr you to attend. Under the Employment Relations Act it is the legal right of employees to attend this course.
Our last course was a huge success. It was held at the same venue in October last year and we had more than 150 delegates attending.