THE ORGANIZER August 2008 • Issue #10 .

Mall of America Baristas Go Union!

At 10am on Monday July 21, the workers at the Mall
of America Starbucks put on union pins and brought
a demand letter to our store manager. We set up a
meeting with Management to discuss store-level con-
cerns, including the unhealthy heat and noise level in
the store, inconsistent scheduling, understaffing, and
other issues. By coming together as a Union, we are
able to ask for change in a way that is taken seriously.

We are now calling on baristas and shifts from stores

across the city to come together to bring about the
big changes that can make our lives better.

Our core demands:

-fair severance pay for workers at
closing stores
-a living wage
-an automatic annual cost of
living increase
-guaranteed hours
-an end to understaffing
-meaningful tuition
reimbursement

Saturday June 26 was like any store was shortstaffed, and the
Wobblies Welcome other busy Saturday at the Mall of
America 1 Starbucks. A barista
lines of customers were long.

Mall of America had called in sick during the

morning shift, another had walked
out in disgust the weekend prior.
But this Saturday was different. By
3:00, the grinding cacaphony of
the frappuccino blenders died
Starbucks Baristas A Manager from another store
was covering the shift of a barista
down, as a chorus of Solidarity
Forever echoed through the Mall.

to the Union! who had been fired for union

activity two weeks before. The Continued on page 5

Free Speech in the Wobblies, Too, Say D’Amico and Sons Wobblies Welcome Upcoming Events
Mall of America Enough to War! RECAP MOA Starbucks What is happening in the
How Capital controls A wobbly perspective on Actions undertaken and Workers to the Un- Twin Cities’ Fighting
publically-funded space the actions at ATK lesson learned in the ion Union.
and what that means for Systems. D’Amico and Sons Deliver cake, party. Page 6
organizing. Page 2-3 campaign. Page 4 Pages 1 & 5
Page 2
THE ORGANIZER
2
THE ORGANIZER
A bi-monthly publication of the Twin
Cities General Membership Branch of
the Industrial Workers of the World.
The IWW is a union for all workers,
dedicated to organizing on the job for
better conditions today, and a world
without bosses tomorrow.
You are invited to contact the Branch
Secretary-Treasurer or any Delegate
listed below for no-pressure
conversations about your issues on
the job.
Branch Contacts
Twin Cities IWW
P.O Box 14111
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Tel. (612) 336-1266
email. twincities@iww.org
web. twincities.iww.org
Branch Secretary-Treasurers
Steve Holm
stephanholm@earthlink.net
Kieran Knutson redblack@riseup.net
Editors
Errico Hedake
Alexander Graham
Policy
Stories, letters to the editors, and
belly-aching can be addressed to
tc-organizer@riseup.net
Unless otherwise stated, the opinions
expressed are not necessarily the
official position of the local branch or
the union as a whole.
Many of our members are engaged in
active organizing campaigns, and
some use an alias, occasionally their
union card number, or ‘x’ number. We
prefer transparency over secrecy
whenever possible, but will always
honor requests for anonymity .
Education.
Organization.
Emancipation.
Regarding
Free Speech
at the Mall
of America.
What is the free speech policy in
the Mall of America, I asked a fel-
low worker?  “There is none,” he
said.  After a bit of research I dis-
covered that my comrade was
right: a 1999 ruling by the Minne-
sota Supreme Court (State v.
Wicklund) declared that although
the MOA receives public subsidies
they are not required to protect
the right to free speech.  Public
funding aside, the court argued
that "the clear state of the law
then is that property is not some-
how converted from private to
public for free speech purposes
because it is openly accessible to
the public."  Therefore in compli-
ance with state law, MOA rules
listed on their website ban “pick-
eting, demonstrating, distributing
handbills, soliciting and petition-
ing… [without] the prior written
consent of Mall of America®
management.”  tive direct action and variations
Organizing efforts within certain
retail outlets in the MOA may be participants.  As always, however,
usefully supplemented with a free we should proceed with careful
speech fight.  Why?  Prohibitions
on public demonstration effec-
tively prohibit workers from pick- weapons in the workers’ arsenal.
eting and other public actions to
force bosses to make
concessions.  A ban against speech
is a ban against organizing—or at
least in the mall, a ban against or-
ganized public action to disrupt
the mindless flow of consumers. 
In other words, public organizing
efforts might mean a free speech
fight, whether we like it or not.     Enough To
The IWW has long recognized
that vague appeals to constitu-
tional freedoms mean nothing to
bosses who have the backing of
repressive state forces.  Even in
our free speech fights of long ago,
we recognized that organized
power is better than law.  The so-
called right for workers to organ-
ize public actions has never been
guaranteed but has only been won
through struggle, through taking
it.  The very illusion of a neutral
public sphere is challenged by the
mall which receives public funding
and regulates its own space as if it
were totally private property:
One Big Workplace of intercon-
nected shops surrounded by a
moat of concrete under 24 hour
surveillance.  A free speech fight
in such a place is less a public ap-
peal for constitutional freedom
and more of an inside strategy at
the point of production.    
What would this mean on a prac-
tical level?  A free speech fight
would commit participant to di-
rect actions that violate the
ordinance.  Free speech fights are
strongest when local officials (se-
curity guards or whatever) are
not equipped to manage the dis-
ruption caused by mass violation
of such ordinances.  In one sce-
nario, affinity groups congregate
around a targeted location as a
speaker stands up to address the
gathering audience.  As the
speaker is arrested, another
stands to take his or her place. 
Malls can be playgrounds for crea-
on the free speech fight tactic
should be worked out by the
consideration of all of our options
while remaining open to all of the
 
To the streets?  Yes, and to the
malls!
-FW Matt May
Wobblies,
Too, Say
War: Les-
sons From A
Recent Ac-
tion
You may have seen it on the
news…young radicals spent
Wednesday July 2nd locking down
the entrance to a war machines
factory, and in jail. They were
 THE ORGANIZER











3

there to prevent the flow of military goods from one those struggling
of Alliant Techsystems Incorporated's (ATK) factories, a for dignity and
leading member of the military-industrial-repression of liberation from
the working class-complex. each other: men
from women,
As a wobbly involved in this non-union action I took whites from
part to support my friends, gain experience, and dem- people of color,
onstrate that when things are fucked up we need to citizens from
do something about them directly, not through the immigrants,
politicians or profiteers that benefit from the situation workers from
in the first place. the unem-
ployed, perma-
And while you may or may not be moved to do the nent from tem-
same in regards to the present war, direct action is porary workers,
something you should consider. In this crazy world and so on.
where the rich own the laws, when people fight for
justice arrests often follow. Indeed, there is a long his- In our action I
tory of working people fighting for free speech in or- learned that the
der to make workplace gains, or publicly claiming the truckers we
rights they deserve but are denied. Direct action is a stopped were
tool we can use to fight back when forced, or when at risk for firing,
we decide not to take it any more. and that the
police include
I also learned a lot. First, do your homework so you ex-veterans
know what will go down. Second, setup support struc- opposed to war.
tures so that action builds trust and solidarity within How might we
the movement. Third, in planning for cops (or bosses) have taken this
be used to have immediate im-
try to think into account? What can we learn
pact, increase
like them. In from our every day of
energy, build
this case, the our lives? What common struggles
your base, and
cops con- might be drawn out and fought
make gains to-
fused my for? How do
ward your de-
role as me- we organize across the lines
mands. There
diator with drawn out by the bosses, which is
are remarkable
that of how they keep their power?
examples of this
leader, my type of strategy
ticket to a While these questions are too big
the world over,
few hours in for this little article, let us keep
and we are lucky
jail. Fourth, asking them! Let us continue to
as wobblies to
think about learn through struggle and reflec-
have connec-
the balance tion, and to support each other in
tions to ongoing
of power. If good times and bad…
and historical
you’re doing examples of
a surprise -FW b
such actions
action, try to within our own
plan it so movement.
that you, not
those you’re My last lesson
attacking, was the impor-
have the tance of thinking
power. In this about action in
case the relation to the
cops were in present state of
control upon the working
arrival, class. As working
quickening people, we need
our removal to consider
and ensuring other workers:
the arrests of those locking down. how they are being squeezed and
what they are fighting for, indi-
This leads to the insight that the best way to create the vidually and collectively. As part of
proper balance of power and to have an impact, is to this we need to identify the pres-
connect direct action to organizing. Direct action can sures and privileges that divide

D'Amico & Sons
Campaign Recap
Happy New Year! D'Amico and Sons restaurant fired a
group of immigrant workers from their restaurants on
New Year's Eve, 2006. Their excuse for firing mostly
senior, higher-paid employees was the receipt, over the
course of three years, that the Social Security Admin-
istration (SSA) had informed them of a mismatch be-
tween names and social security numbers. In labor and
employment parlance, this is called a 'no-match,' and
can happen because of a host of reasons, ranging from
a truly undocumented workers' legal residency status,
to a bureaucratic error. The letters to employees were
in English alone, and translation was an ongoing prob-
lem; as a result, workers were not given a realistic op-
portunity to address the problem. Regardless, a 'no-
match' problem is not considered a legitimate reason
to fire employees by itself.
 
After having it run so smoothly the first time around,
that a year later, on January 2, 2008, the company tried
it again. D'Amico sent the same letters to a different
group of workers, including 2 managers, all of whom
had a minimum of 10 years at the restaurant chain, and
some who had been there as long as 17 years. This
time, however, the workers did not go quietly. A custo-
dian called Manuel began asking around for advice on
dealing with the situation. Friends referred him to the
Workers Interfaith Network (WIN) and the Centro
para Justicia Laboral that WIN runs. After a few conver-
sations with paid WIN staff, Manuel decided to ask his
fellow workers to come to the Centro and talk about
what they could do together. It didn't materialize over-
night - Manuel started inviting co-workers in early Feb-
ruary and it wasn't until the final weeks of March that
his companeros were coming in large numbers. The
letters sent out in January set a March 31 deadline by
which all workers would be fired in the event that they
did not "show proper documentation."
By late February it seemed that the workers' problem
was over: WIN's retained lawyers (who did not directly
represent the D'Amico's workers) had reached an
agreement with the company's lawyer that allowed the
workers to keep their jobs. A letter from D'Amico's
Human Resources Manager stated that "we consider
your correction in process and as a result you can ig-
nore all earlier correspondence regarding employment
terminations, vacations and stay bonuses.Your employ-
ment, wages and benefits will continue as they were
prior to the first letter sent on January 2, 2008...We
are so pleased that you will continue to work at
D'Amico."
This letter greatly improved at- negotiate. A genuine, bona fide sit-
tendance at the Centro's meet- down strike! The role of wobblies
ings between paid WIN staff and
the workers. But bosses lie and in
subsequent company letter,
was to be at the restaurant at
5:30 AM as English-speaking co-
workers were entering work, to
D'Amico reneged on the previous let them know that an action was
offer and reaffirmed the March 31 going to take place in their work-
deadline as the workers final day if place that day and to call on them
they did not "correct the data." to act in solidarity. (As outsiders,
With only 4 days left before they the role of wobblies in this situa-
were to be fired, and with no Plan tion was clearly not ideal.)
B, 15 D'Amico's kitchen staffers
met with each other, a WIN staff March 31 was a snowy Monday in
person, and a couple wobblies in Minneapolis. Despite the weather,
the basement of the church that D'Amico workers not on the
houses the Centro. WIN staff fo- work schedule, wobs, members of
cused on a planned picket an- SDS, and a WIN staff person
nouncing an Equal Employment chanted, banged on pots and pans,
Opportunity claim for employ- and generally caused a ruckus, as
ment discrimination (EEOC); the snow came down harder. Af-
wobblies focused on how to build ter an hour or so, energy began
solidarity with other workers and to dissipate: management was not
disrupt day to day operations of allowing unscheduled workers
the business. join their coworkers inside, and at
7:25 the workers inside had not
The next four days involved wob- yet taken their places at the tables
blies and workers visiting English- in front of the plate glass windows
speaking coworkers at home and facing the street. Workers inside
asking them to support actions weren't answering their cell
the fired workers would have to phones, and the general impres-
take. Wobblies leafleted servers in sion that the strike action had
the res- fallen
taurants apart.
and asked
for sup- Those
port of outside
con- were
certed huddled
actions together
and con- and dis-
versation cussing
about Can you find the boss in this picture? coming
their back for
work- the noon
place. Some wobblies hung around lunch rush when, holding one of
the back kitchen door and talked the petitions signed by his co-
to workers who came out for workers above his head with both
smoke breaks and gave them the hands à la Rocky Balboa, Manuel
leaflets that were written specifi- appeared in the window facing the
cally for coworkers. high street and one by one, the
others came to his side! The
On the night before the workers picket line outside swelled with
were to be fired, the D'Amico's energy and with each pass in front
workers discussed how the house of the windows, the workers in-
calls had gone and what should be side looked more and more de-
done the following day - they de- termined to stay and win – they
cided to stop working precisely at went from looking nervously at
7 AM and demand to negotiate each other and the bosses over
with an executive who possessed their shoulders to smiling and
decision-making power in the raising their fists in time with the
matter of their firing, and then go chants they could hear through
in uniform to the tables directly in the glass.
front of the windows facing out
on the high street and sit and wait TO BE CONTINUED…
for whoever was going to come -FW E
 IWW baristas have taken a stand. In the early 1930s, workers in the
IWW Brings Cake! In an economy characterized by a
skyrocketing cost of living and the
Minneapolis trucking industry had
almost no organization in the
from Page 1
disappearance of ‘good’ jobs, in a workplace. The Great Depression
cultural environment character- was in full swing. Working condi-
“When the union’s inspiration through the workers’
ized by increased selfishness, fear, tions were terrible, turnover was
blood shall run…”
cynicism, and despair, what we are high. In the winter of 1933, all that
really fighting for is the right to would start to change. The Min-
Workers stepped back from their tasks to crowd
hope. We want to show that even neapolis Teamsters Local 574,
around the front counter. Managers looked on in si-
at Starbucks, even in the Mall of numbering only 75 members, suc-
lence. About two dozen Wobblies streamed into the
America, we can organize, fight, cessfully organized a strike of coal
Mall of America 1 Starbucks to welcome the workers
and win. drivers during the coldest months
to the union… with a cake.
of the year. The strike victory set
We are rebuilding the labor the stage for organizing across the
A Bigger Piece of the Pie for Baristas
movement from the ground up on entire trucking industry without
On Monday, the MOA baristas had declared their af-
the only true foundation of work- regard for craft divisions.
filiation with the Starbucks Workers Union, a campaign
ers power: solidarity between Workers from non-union shops
of the Industrial Workers of the World. The workers
workers. We call our approach to began pouring into the union. On
issued several demands to Management: fair severance
workplace organizing ‘Solidarity May 16, 1934, the Union shut
pay for baristas at closing stores, a living wage, cost of
Unionism.’ We have recognized down the entire trucking industry
living pay increases, guaranteed minimum work hours,
that we cannot depend on the in the city by sending cars full of
and an end to chronic un-
strikers to stop any trucks
derstaffing of the stores. In
that tried to make deliver-
short, the baristas de-
ies. The strike organizers
manded that Starbucks live
depended on the power of
up to its own rhetoric of
workers to stop produc-
being a “great work envi-
tion to win the strike,
ronment.”
rather than using the weak
provisions of the newly-
The Mall of America Star-
inked National Industrial
bucks became the first
Recovery Act.
store with a union pres-
By May 25, the employers
ence in the Mall of Amer-
conceded recognition of
ica, and the first union
the union and reinstate-
Starbucks in the Upper
ment for all strikers. But it
Midwest.
was a qualified victory. The
bosses refused to include
The Return of the Wob-
the warehouse workers in
blies
the bargaining unit.
The Industrial Workers of
Not willing to allow em-
the World first rose to
ployer divide-and-conquer
prominence in the early
tactics to succeed, the
years of the 20th century.
goodwill of the bosses, or the workers went back on strike on
Then, as now, the labor movement was in crisis. The
guarantee of our legal right to July 17.  After a brutal struggle
institutional labor movement, organized along craft
form unions. The task ahead of us involving police attacks on un-
lines, excluded the vast majority of workers in the mass
is not easy. Fortunately, the work- armed picketers, the workers
industries– primarily women and immigrants. Under
ers movement has left us a wealth were finally victorious. Employer
the red-and-black banner of the IWW, these workers
of lessons about how to organize opposition was broken, and Min-
organized, fought, and won major gains until the re-
in this climate. neapolis became a union town.
pression of the IWW by state forces during and after
World War I.
Minneapolis, 1934 Solidarity Forever
Before the passage of the Na- In an era of scarce union victories,
Today, union density in the private sector has fallen to
tional Labor Relations Act the story of 1934 can remind us
an all-time low of 9%. Working conditions that our par-
(NLRA) in 1935, every union was of the power workers have, when
ents’ generation would have considered unthinkable
a solidarity union. Section 7 of the we choose to use it. This lesson
are becoming the norm. The Eight Hour Day, long the
NLRA grants workers the right to was on our minds as we marched
centerpiece of the labor movement’s trophy case, has
“engage in concerted activity for into the Mall of America on Sat-
been stolen out from under us. Many service workers
the purposes of mutual aid or urday. We brought the Starbucks
spend 14 hour days behind the counter at two ‘part
protection.” Yet, even without the baristas a cake, but they brought
time’ jobs. The middle class is no more. The ‘America
legal protections of the NLRA, us something much sweeter:
Dream’ has become an unattainable mirage for millions
workers built a powerful labor proof that solidarity unionism
of workers stuck on the treadmill of debt and low-
movement. The story of the 1934 lives on, even at Starbucks, even in
wage part-time work.
Truckers’ Strike is a perfect ex- the Mall of America.
ample of solidarity unionism in
practice. -MOA SBUX Workers
 THE ORGANIZER
Message from
the Editors.
"The working class and the employing
class have nothing in common. There
can be no peace so long as hunger and
want are found among millions of the
working people and the few, who make
up the employing class, have all the
good things of life."
Welcome to the revitalized Organ-
izer, the newsletter of the Twin Cit-
ies General Membership Branch of
the Industrial Workers of the World.
We asked for more engagement
from our fellow workers in the
branch in terms of writing and sup-
plying photos, our fellow workers
stepped up. We now plan on publish-
ing the Organizer on a monthly ba-
sis. Our branch is growing fast, and
we do an amazing amount of work.
We should shout it to the skies, and
make the bosses tremble in their
booties.
This issue focuses on the actions of
IWW-affiliated Starbucks Workers
Union members who have organized
at the Mall of America location.Visit
the store, and you'll almost certainly
see a number of workers wearing
their union buttons on their green
aprons. Stop by and congratulate
them on joining the union.
See also the beginning of an analysis
and history of the D'Amico & Sons
campaign that the IWW was heavily
involved in supporting. We hope to
bring you the second half next
month.  There is a piece on direct
action by local activists (including
some wobblies) against the military
madmen at ATK, a company produc-
ing the depleted uranium ordnance
that is creating a nuclear legacy in
Afghanistan and Iraq eclipsing that of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Finally, cast your eyes at the call to
action from the Anti-Capitalist Bloc.
Lots more news on the RNC next
month - the next issue of the organ-
izer will be released in time for you
to read it behind the barricades.
- Errico Hedake & Alexander Gra-
ham.
A Call for an Anti-Capitalist
Bloc at the RNC Protests
On “Labor Day” 2008, and throughout lice, but to raise the profile of organized
the Republican National Convention working class direct action against capi-
(RNC), tens of thousands of people talism. The Anti-Capitalist Bloc is inde-
from our community and from across pendent from, but not competitive with
the or hostile to the RNC Welcoming
Unites States will protest against the Committee.
GOP’s pro-corporate policies of war
and discrimination.  The Anti-Capitalist Join Us Under the Red & Black flags of
Bloc will join these mobilizations to the Anti-Capitalist Bloc!
stand up against the whole system of
exploitation and oppression: capitalism. For the complete call, endorsements, and
a schedule of events, visit:
It is the inherent character of capitalism http://tinyurl.com/rnc-anticapbloc, or
that is creating the current economic contact
crisis.  Tens of thousands of laid-off anticapbloc@iww.org or 612-339-1266.
workers, thousands of homes in foreclo-
sure, and quickening inflation of gas and
food prices are all signs of a system out
of control, where the sins of the bosses
are visited on the masses of workers.
Foreign wars like Iraq, and forced dis-
placement of the poor and the black in
New Orleans are part of a single system Upcoming
of empire at home and abroad. Raids on
immigrant workers further show the
racism inherent in the system and its
Events.
General Assembly of the
need for a low-waged precarious work-
One Big Union
force. Continued oppression of women
August 30-31 The annual
and the hatred whipped up against the
meeting of the IWW. This year’s
GLBT community are designed to rein-
meeting takes place in London,
force an authoritarian patriarchal cul-
UK.
ture.
Republican National
Not a conspiracy or mistaken policy, Convention
capitalism is a system in which a small September 1-4 See http://
ruling class profits from the labor of the twincities.iww.org for events.
working class majority. The stolen
wealth is used to dominate the political IWW Reflection Meeting
system (including both major political September 2 Location and
parties), and finance a massive apparatus Time TBA.
of repression, cooptation and division
necessary to maintain capitalist rule.  General Membership
While the earth warms, and bridges Branch Meeting
collapse, the capitalists continue to do September 9nd. Mayday
whatever is necessary to increase their Books, 301 Cedar Ave S,
profits.  To defeat their attacks we must Minneapolis MN 55454
defeat their entire system.
The Anti-Capitalist Bloc stands for soli-
darity, direct action, the general strike
and revolution.  We advocate an eco-
nomic system controlled collectively and
democratically, and an end to the racism,
sexism and violence of the capitalist
system.
While remaining tactically flexible, our
goal is not a confrontation with the po-