That Howard Schultz, the ceo of Starbucks has been union busting like crazy.
But yesterday he faced a major setback.
So a federal judge ordered that Starbucks must immediately reinstate
the Memphis seven.
The organizers who were fired in the Tennessee store.
So Starbucks fired those workers back in february and here was their excuse.
Starbucks said that the firing was because the seven workers violated
security policies by staying in the store after hours,
allowing a tv crew behind the counter and in the back of the house and
in the case of one worker opening the safe without permission.
But we know from the evidence that we've seen that this was really a case of
retaliation against these workers who are organizing the union.
Here's what one worker said after she was fired.
I was fired by Starbucks today for policies that I've never heard of before
and that I've never been written up for before.
So the National Labor Relations Board filed a legal motion challenging this
firing and Cheryl Littman,
the district judge in Memphis said the Nationa Labor Relations Board
had provided enough evidence that the dismissals earlier in the year were
motivated by anti union Animus Whitman also ordered Starbucks to no longer
engage in the type of activities that gave rise to the case.
Those activities include discharging, disciplining or
discriminating against employees because of their union support and activities.
One of the main union organizers gave a comment on this and
she said we're beyond thankful the federal court ruled in our favor and this just
goes to show that Starbucks will do everything in their power to silence us.
Memphis is a union town, we remain the only store to have organized in Memphis
for fear of workers being fired like we were.
So for them it's in a large part about job security.
But we have reporting from the Washington post of one of the main organizers with
Starbucks workers United saying Howard Schultz thought he could terrify an in
entire nation of baristas by firing the Memphis organizing committee thankfully,
a federal judge has found that Schultz is not above the law.
And right now, Starbucks, as the kids would say is big mad about the ruling.
Reggie borg is a Starbucks spokesperson said the company would appeal the ruling
and request a stay of the order which could result
a pause of the reinstatement of these employees until the review is finished.
So they're going to keep fighting this, they've lost and
they're going to keep fighting this.
What are your thoughts?
Okay, so big day for labor.
I love this.
So nuances necessary.
But it's also very good.
We're gonna get to that in a second.
But first we have to note that anything called the Memphis seven is by definition.
Cool.
So that's where Starbucks lost immediately.
Okay.
But that actually does relate to the substance as well.
But also, let's note that Jessica just said,
as the kids say, okay, as if she's 85.
Okay.
Anyways, now to the substance.
Look, there are legitimate cases of people getting fired that don't
have anything to do with the union in the middle of a union drive.
It happens all the time.
That's why you have a national labor relations board.
Now, when it goes to them, it's not easy for the union to win.
It's not easy for the workers to win.
And and if you show legitimate reason and they're really, and
oftentimes there are legitimate reasons then you win, the employer wins.
Right?
So the fact that Starbucks lost is a huge deal.
Second of all a hint as to why it might have been union organizing that caught
on fire in the first place is that there were seven of them all,
seven miraculously violated random codes at Starbucks at the same time, the,
the same seven who were organizing and Starbucks knew they were organizing.
Well, that is a hell of a quizzes and that is why you lose.
And now having to rehire them.
And the message, this sends more importantly to the wrestler.
Workers don't be afraid you can organize, you're allowed to do that here in America,
you're allowed to do that at Starbucks.
That's a giant message and a very positive one today.
To me, it's, it's really funny watching this pendulum swing.
Now you talk about, as the kids can say, as you can see from the gray here,
I'm not one of the kids, I've been around and I was in manufacturing in
the eighties when unions were under attack when unions were destroyed and
they were made evil and greedy through the eighties through the nineties and
early two thousand's and and the pendulum is swinging back.
Like these companies like Starbucks like Howard Schultz, hey, you don't need
a union will pay you well, we pay for you to go to school all this and all that.
But now workers are finding out yet.
All the benefits that used to get healthcare and and pay and
everything that was all negotiated by unions, unions are not a bad thing and
I have to be honest, it is comical for Memphis to call itself a union town.
Okay, there's nothing in the south.
That's a union town.
The south is not a union place, but if this is happening, that's a great thing.
I think the pendulum should be swinging workers, young workers,
young people are finding out why unions were first organized back 100 years ago,
literally in the early 19 hundreds when you had labor barons and stuff.
And now we look at these multi billionaire CEOs and it's like, whoa,
we're back to the robber baron era where the ceo owns,
you know, billions of dollars, billions of dollars and
the worker bee is lucky to get 15 bucks an hour and and have three roommates.
So good for them.
I hope the pendulum swings farther and that unions come back and you know,
all this talk about labor shortages and everything else.
No, it's pay shortage, its benefits shortages.
People not willing to give up their time and work for nothing.
So good for them for organizing and wow,
I hope the courts do continue to back them up.
Absolutely.
I want to see the Memphis seven returning back to work just all together.
They need a walkout song coming into the shop at Starbucks.
But I'm glad what you brought up Alonso about the new momentum in the labor
movement.
We have that video.
Let's watch this.
Tell you like this.
I heard a rumor.
You want to be the new amazon of Pittsburgh?
Well, guess what?
We set up shop there and just like today,
we're gonna set up shop here every damn time.
We ain't going nowhere.
UPMC, they owe y'all some money.
Amazon wasn't bad too.
So the time that we're in right now in this country,
it's important that we continue his fight important that we
come together as people and we bring it right to the doorsteps.
You gotta keep fighting because
when we fight back every damn time.
So UPMC is an acronym for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and
it's the biggest employer and landowner in the region.
It claims to be a nonprofit, but they're raking in billions and
not paying any money in taxes and people in the communities in
Pittsburgh are quite upset because they need that revenue for infrastructure for
schools for health care and investment in those communities.
But as Alonso pointed out, there's a huge problem with high ceo pay and low pay for
workers, Jeffrey, Romo off the president.
And Ceo makes 8.5 million annually.
34 of their top paid employees are earning over a million dollars while
they're not paying their workers fair wages and they're not paying taxes.
And so the labor movement has a lot of momentum in organizing and
leadership like that is exactly why.
So that was chris smalls in Pittsburgh today, where they're having net roots and
they all went together to do an action in front of UPMC.
But the main point of that story is that the fire is spreading.
So, now there's more and more union efforts.
And look, I got to say that in the beginning it was a little skeptical
because some of the unions were targeting the most progressive places because they
thought it was low hanging fruit and, and it felt a little unfair.
But I'm like, wait, you're leaving the giant multi trillion dollar companies,
and, and targeting some folks that are barely surviving, right?
But I have to say no.
To be fair, they spread and spread and spread and
got the larger and larger companies.
So they were building momentum.
So looking back on it, you say maybe that was a good strategy to start small and
get bigger and bigger.
Now we've talking about amazon, we're talking about Starbucks and now,
you know, organizing is spread all over the country and that's a great phenomenon.
Yeah, I mean, I get why they started small because if you started big taking on,
if you challenge the amazon and a big health care company,
they own Congress people, right?
They straight up own people in Congress so that they own people who
appoint judges, they own politicians who appoint judges.
It makes it a much harder fight.
So good for them for building momentum with the smaller companies and
the smaller winds.
Because you know, these big corporations, as you say, multinational,
multi, billion dollar corporations are going to be a very difficult fight.
And one of the things that, that they might try to do is,
I don't know, outsource more labor, but
they definitely have the money to get politicians on their side.
I mean, unfortunately America's politicians are for sale, right?
We've all heard the joke that they should wear nascar suits.
So we know who owns them and who they're sponsored by.
But that's the truth.
So now that they're taking on the big boys,
the fight becomes much more expensive and much tougher.
So getting the people on your side with the small wins and getting the community
on your side when, like you say, you have a big corporation here, not paying
taxes using all the infrastructure, but not paying taxes to the community.
That's how you get the people on your side, good for them, Good strategy.