Saurav Sarkar is a freelance writer based in metro New York.
Ten years ago this week, over 1,130 workers died when the Bangladeshi garment factory Rana Plaza collapsed. A decade after the worst tragedy in garment work history, the reforms needed to prevent another similar tragedy haven’t materialized.
Howard Schultz has yet again left the top executive position at Starbucks. He’s carefully cultivated an image as a progressive CEO. In reality, he has spent his tenure viciously trying to destroy the Starbucks workers’ union.
This week, white-collar workers at Starbucks signed an open letter in solidarity with baristas, Bernie Sanders announced he will force Howard Schultz to testify before a Senate committee, and the NLRB condemned the company for ignoring worker’s fundamental rights.
Last week the NLRB ruled that workers fired from a Philadelphia Starbucks for unionizing should be reinstated. The decision is part of a series of recent worker victories against a company intent on putting an end to all unionization efforts.
For the fifth time, the National Labor Relations Board has filed charges against Starbucks for illegal firings of union supporters, claiming the company has repeatedly violated labor law in its attempts to destroy the fledgling union.
Starbucks has undertaken an unceasing union-busting campaign since the first cafe unionized a year ago. But if the 114 cafes that saw baristas go on strike yesterday for its annual Red Cup Day are any indication, the company won’t be victorious any time soon.
Starbucks is doing everything it can to stifle, delay, and repress the new union Starbucks Workers United — despite an order by a federal judge to cease and desist its myriad and repeated violations of labor law.
Three weeks ago, in response to what workers say has been particularly flagrant union busting at a Boston Starbucks after their unanimous vote for a union, baristas have gone on strike. That strike is still going.
The story of how India came to embrace a virulent form of Hindu nationalism isn’t just one of bigotry and state violence — it’s also about the failures of neoliberal development.
Narendra Modi’s hard-right agenda is rolling on, unimpeded by significant opposition in India. His latest attack: on 1.9 million undocumented people, with the intention of displacing Bengali Muslims from northeastern India.
Six years after the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse killed over a thousand people, Bangladeshi workers are striking for better wages and safer conditions.