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Fast-Food Unionism OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER oF THE INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD INDUSTRIALDecember 2013 #1761 Vol. 110 No. 10 $2/ £2/ €2 WORKER Perspectives on IWW Boston Wobblies & How I Got Fired And Nonviolent Direct Strategy & Tactics Allies Protest Police Won My Job Back Action & The Early 4 Brutality 5 8-9 IWW 11 Fast-Food Unionism: The Unionization Of McDonald’s & The McDonaldization of Unions By Erik Forman garnished its product with a veneer of sci- nate more and more sectors of American Fast food is America. First striking ence, titillating the American love affair society as well as of the rest of the world.” root in the economic hothouse of the long with technologically-enabled predictabil- Ritzer decried the gleichschaltung of an post-World War II boom, the industry ity. Craving profits made possible by highly ever-widening swathe of institutions to took its place alongside freeways, suburbs, rationalized economies of scale, fast-food four values foundational to fast food: the single-family homes, shopping malls, cars, executives colonized the landscape of the “efficient” speedup of human social activ- and television as a thriving organism in the United States with the glowing emblems ity, reduction of life to a “calculability” ecosystem of American consumer culture. of their corporate empires from sea to that conflates quality with quantity, the From the dawn of the Cold War era to the shining sea. Nourishing, and nourished “predictability” of a standardized human dusk of the Great Recession, fast food was by, a culture that prefers representation to experience, and a fixation on bureaucratic shaped by and in turn came to shape the reality, appearance before substance, and control through technology. Updating a di- core values of the United States. short-term profit over long-term planning, agnosis elaborated by Max Weber and the Our lust for efficient instant gratifica- Americans fall easy prey to the siren call of critical theorists of the Frankfurt School, tion was satisfied with minuteman-like glossy burger porn advertising. American Ritzer sums up the malaise at the heart of service with a (forced) smile at the drive- consumers will fatten the bottom lines of our McDonaldized society as the “irratio- thru. A never-ending carousel of TV-adver- fast-food corporations with a projected nality of rationality”—the subordination of tised new-and-improved sandwiches and $191 billion in 2013. As the U.S. fast-food all other concerns to one overriding goal: soft drinks fed and fed upon the American industry grew, so grew the dominance of corporate profit. Of course, McDonaldiza- addiction to the latest, greatest thing. Su- its values in American society. We are what tion could be Disneyification, Walmartiza- per-sized meals catered to our seemingly we eat. America is fast food. tion, or Coca-colonization…the signifier is rational calculation that bigger is better. In 1993, sociologist George Ritzer irrelevant, at work beneath any of these From Taylorized back-of-house operations gave name to this “McDonaldization of corporate logos is the unfolding of the logic to genetically-modified, pesticide-infused Society,” noting that, “the principles of the of capitalism at a world scale. Photo: Diane Krauthamer burgers and fries, corporate management fast-food restaurant are coming to domi- Continued on 6 McDonald’s protest in D.C., July 24, 2013. Wobblies Fight Neo-Nazis In North Dakota Starbucks Workers Union Strike In Chile By Brandon W. On Sept. 22, mem- bers of the Red River General Membership Branch drove five hours from Fargo to Leith, N.D., to con- front members of the National Socialist Movement (NSM, a white nationalist par- ty) who are planning to take over the city’s government to cre- Wobblies demonstrate against neo-Nazis. Photo: FW Dana H. ate a white-only town. Community activists from the Standing As we drove into town, we saw the Rock Reservation in Bismarck, N.D., and police had closed off all but one road. Mov- residents of surrounding towns attended ing past the police roadblock, we began to Starbucks workers strike in Santiago, Nov. 7, 2013. Photo: Starbucks Workers Union of Chile the protest, as well as members of the see the swastika flag of the enemy flying Last Real Indians, Anti-Racist Action, and on buildings and in the town’s park. A From Ideas & Action violations of basic labor law. UnityND. The rally drew about 300 people member of the Standing Rock Reservation In September of this year, U.S.-based This should all come as no surprise on the anti-fascist side, with the cowardly Lakota Tribe greeted us and introduced members of the IWW were able to meet to U.S.-based workplace organizers and neo-Nazis only managing to summon himself to each of us. We were glad to have and connect with members of the Star- labor activists. For a number of years, about 15 people. Continued on 10 bucks Workers Union in Chile. At the time Wobblies in the United States have waged this piece was written, they were waging a an innovative campaign, beginning in New Industrial Worker Periodicals Postage strike over the company’s refusal to meet York City, to demand basic rights—only to PO Box 180195 PAID a single demand of the union and calling be met with outright hostility. Organizing Chicago, IL 60618, USA Chicago, IL for support and solidarity actions. led by rank-and-file workers won many and additional Beginning in one store in 2009 after hard-fought improvements as well as an ISSN 0019-8870 mailing offices workers wrote to the Starbucks Human increase in starting wages for NYC stores ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Resources department, raising objections and holiday pay for Martin Luther King Jr. to a series of company-wide layoffs only Day. But after numerous firings and vio- to be arbitrarily fired, the union spread lations of labor rights, the campaign was nationally to half the employees across able to prove a systematic effort by high- the company in Chile (see “The Story level company officials to undermine and And Struggle Of Starbucks Workers In violate workers’ rights. So it should come Chile” on pages 1 and 12 of the Novem- as no surprise that Starbucks, which has ber 2013 Industrial Worker for a more been expanding to countries around the detailed interview). The union remains world, especially in developing countries, self-organized, unaffiliated to any larger is also taking these same labor practices labor body and led by rank-and-file work- around the world. Thus, the Starbucks ers. Since waging a labor strike and then Workers Union in Chile is part of the glob- hunger strike, the union has forged ahead al fight against multinational corporations despite Starbucks’ continued refusal to and their exploitative practices worldwide. negotiate or concede demands to meet The following statements were written by basic workplace standards (such as paid the Starbucks Workers Union: meals) and even after numerous fines for Continued on 10 Page 2 • Industrial Worker • December 2013 A Tribute To Fighters Before Us To the Editor, Butler earned not one, but two medals of republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I First, thank you for the outstanding honor, and fought in most of America’s helped purify Nicaragua for the Interna- November issue of the Industrial Worker. foreign adventures from the Spanish- tional Banking House of Brown Brothers The list of labor’s martyrs is extremely American War through the Banana Wars in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Do- moving and should make us all pause and in the 1920s. He was on active duty from minican Republic for the American sugar reflect—very sobering. It should be read by 1898 to 1931. The following is from his interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras Letters Welcome! everyone, Wobbly or not. rather lengthy entry in Wikipedia: right for the American fruit companies in Send your letters to: [email protected] with And the articles on the IWW in Mexico “In addition to his speeches to pacifist 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it “Letter” in the subject. in the early 20th century and the Wobblies groups, he served from 1935 to 1937 as that Standard Oil went on its way unmo- who fought in the Spanish Civil War are a spokesman for the American League lested. Looking back on it, I might have Mailing Address: very good reads, as is the one on Helen Against War and Fascism. In 1935, he given Al Capone a few hints. The best he Industrial Worker, P.O. Box 180195, Keller. wrote the exposé ‘War Is a Racket,’ a tren- could do was to operate his racket in three Chicago, IL 60618, United States. I sent you and asked you to print FW chant condemnation of the profit motive districts. I operated on three continents.’” Get the Word Out! Michael Francisconi’s loving tribute to behind warfare. His views on the subject Solidarity, those who preceded us. Thank you for are summarized in the following passage Bob Wagenknecht IWW members, branches, job shops and printing it, and for giving it such a promi- from a 1935 issue of the socialist magazine other affiliated bodies can get the word nent position in a box on page 5. Common Sense: IW Fails At The Obvious out about their project, event, campaign Finally, the more things change, the “‘I spent 33 years and four months in The November IW was excellent except or protest each month in the Industrial more they stay the same. active military service and during that for one joker in the deck: the appearance Worker.
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