Organizing Coffee Shops
We are a group of workers, just like you. We work in coffee shops and other low income service industry type jobs. Many of us are graduates from different backgrounds, and many of us have had no post secondary education, yet we all work or have worked in these work places. This is the reality that our generation faces. It has recently been brought to our attention that with some organization we could work together to protect each other from being treated unfairly by our employers. This can be anything from scheduling, wages, respect and fairness and even advocating benefits for health and leisure. We are dedicated to building an infrastructure of workers who can collectively confront whatever specific grievances or problems arise in their workplaces. We are currently running an industry wide call out to all sympathetic coffee shop workers. This includes baristas, cashiers and bakers in coffee shops in vancouver. As part of this group, you will be supported and connected to workers in the service industry who share the exact same problems at their worksites.
Our aim is to work together to improve not only our own work experiences but also the experiences of others in our industry.
Did you know that retail is actually the fasted growing industry in Canada, for men and women. This industry has the highest rate of unprotected (unorganized, non unionized) workers and we are part of this. We are currently the most precarious (flexible to our own demise) workers and we have absolutely no protection. Unions are not the only option for seeing results in our day to day lives. It is possible to organize workers without contracts, or going through the tedious labour laws, without the help of politicians and bureaucrats. IF you are interested in attending a meeting, or meeting face to face with a fellow coffee shop worker to discuss "our" options, please email us at wedecide@ymail.com
We need to build up our confidence and worker solidarity at our work sites, and through out our industry.
JJ BEAN
We are employees that have come together at our workplace (JJ Bean) to organize a union. We believe we are working in the best interest of the company and our worker peers. We are dedicated to helping JJ Bean become a truly "socially responsible" company to work for and a leader in terms of accountability and social integrity. Many of us have been working for the company for over 6 years, and we have seen the changes that have taken place over that time. We have worked in many of the different 10 locations under different management and feel that we have a very comprehensive understanding of the relationships within the company and our staff policies and their implementation. We have spent much time putting together this extensive list of the reasons we feel it is absolutely necessary to organize as an employee unit. Please do let us know if you have information to add to this, or questions concerning each issue. If you find information to be misleading or incorrect, please do correct us. We are dedicated to creating a fact based environment, and would like this mandate to reflect the experiences and facts brought forth by employees in a way that is not misleading or supporting the spreading of misinformation. As the range of employee concerns is different for everyone, the following points are not in any specific order.
1. Wages:
2. Benefits
3. Job Security
4. Third Party Representation
5. Respect and Fairness in the workplace
6. Re-distributing Power Dynamics
7. Setting an example in the Community
8. Understanding Exploitation
9. Living under The Poverty Line
10. Fighting the Harper Government by paying into union dues, which are tax deductible for us, but indirectly support Harper's opposition. This is because Labour unions are some of the biggest supporters of Harper's opposition.
TO BE UPDATED ASAP >> ey, can you do this by sun?
We will collectively confront specific grievances or problems that arise in our workplaces in Vancouver. Jobs like ours (gendered/low income/service industry labour) are the ones that allow these empires to exist and expand. We are currently running an industry wide call out to all sympathetic coffee shop workers. We work with "direct unionism" principles and IWW tactics.
