Here in New York City, a coalition of union leaders and workers led a protest Thursday outside the $40 million penthouse of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, denouncing the corporation’s ongoing retaliation and firing of workers fighting to unionize. Among the speakers at the rally were Charles Jenkins, president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and Larry Holmes of the Workers Assembly Against Racism.
Charles Jenkins: “We demand the right for not some workers to be unionized like me, but we demand all workers — all workers — have a right to unionize.”
Larry Holmes: “All of your union busting, the Starbucks workers are just getting angrier, just organizing more stores. And if you keep your union busting up, all you’re going to do is wake up a sleeping giant: the working class in this country.”
Despite an aggressive union-busting campaign from Starbucks, thousands of workers at some 220 shops have filed for union elections, including a Starbucks at Mall of America. A total of 22 Starbucks stores have successfully unionized across the country.