The Brave Ones

Of all the many activists and peacemakers I've had a chance to meet and interview over the past three years, Cole Dorsey of Grand Rapids is one of most impressive.  As an I.W.W. labor union organizer, Dorsey has stood by his principles in fighting for workers rights at Starbucks.  He was fired from the East Grand Rapids store and is one of the many blotches on the Starbucks record of union busting in the U.S. and elsewhere across the globe.  Dorsey won his case against the coffee giant, but was not re-instated by the NLRB.  He continues to fight for workers' rights at Starbucks and recently brought his story to the NorthStar Center in Lansing, Michigan (USA).

Joining Dorsey at the NorthStar Center were equally-impressive I.W.W. union organizers/activists from Minnesota, Erik Forman and April Gardner.  They told their stories about fighting for workers' rights at Starbucks, a similar story with the same union-busting company at the center of the struggle.  

In this day and age of economic meltdown in America, we need more brave people like Dorsey, Forman, and Gardner.  I hope you take the time to listen to their stories.  It will give you pause every time you step into a Starbucks, if you decide to go back to that store at all.

Click here to see the panel discussion in its entirety and here for the full Q and A session.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

Cole Dorsey

I.W.W. Starbucks Union Organizer, Michigan

Erik Forman

I.W.W. Starbucks Union Organizer, Minnesota

April Gardner

I.W.W. Starbucks Union Organizers, Minnesota

NorthStar Center's Saturday Focus: Starbucks' Union Busting

The NorthStar Center in Lansing, Michigan continues its impressive programming schedule tomorrow, Saturday, February 21, by hosting two union organizers from the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) who have experienced direct retribution from supposedly-progressive Starbucks Coffee Company, which continues to have its union-busting activities exposed.  

Cole Dorsey of Grand Rapids and and Erik Forman from Minnesota will be speaking at the NorthStar Center, 106 Lathrup Street, in Lansing, at 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 21, 2009.  Both will be discussing Starbucks' anti-union tactics and the on-going legal battles between the company and the I.W.W. in the U.S. and across the globe.

Dorsey is the barista that was fired for his union organizing activities in East Grand Rapids, Michigan.  It's a fascinating story.  I interviewed him last year and video is presented below.  It will be very interesting tomorrow when Dorsey provides an update on his case against Starbucks.

-- Rico Thomas Rico

RTR's 2008 Interview with Cole Dorsey

Grand Rapids Union Organizer Fired by Starbucks