For an industry that brings in $250 billion dollars in profits in NYS/NYC each year, there is plenty to go around and the successes of the industry should translate to greater flexibility and share of the profits by the workers. With your support, we can bring these issues to our city and state lawmakers and show employers that their consumer base wants them to do the right thing by their workers.

*Added 1/21/19 The author of this petition ended up getting poked by a dirty needle themselves, after two other coworkers were poked in the same cafe, not long after starting this petition. Since then, the author went to local Seattle news crews, and only after their story aired did Starbucks put safe sharps disposals in six cafes in Seattle, but they were only the cafes that already had an L&I complaint and fine about this issue before. The author still has yet to hear directly from anyone at Starbucks Corporate. The author still fully intends on hand-delivering this petition to Starbucks HQ. The author is obnoxiously tenacious like that. Exposure to HIV/AIDS, Hep C, Hep B, etc. is a risk in Seattle where there is a heroin/hep c crisis--and an HIV outbreak in at the same time and in the same area that baristas were getting poked by used drug needles while at work. There is no vaccine for Hep C, the available treatment is not a 100% assured cure, and Starbucks refuses to comment to employees when employees mention this risk. Employees risk getting poked, and DO get poked, even when following "protocol" of using gloves and tongs to dispose of used needles left in bathrooms, tampon disposal boxes, and diaper changing stations. It costs almost two thousand dollars just for one round of after-exposure shots, not including other tests, shots, medications, etc. Employees have to pay out-of-pocket for this before being reimbursed until Starbucks's company insurance kicks in. Many baristas cannot afford that, instead resorting to loans and credit cards. Employees who are pregnant or already immuno-compromised have an added risk if poked by a used needle. Employees also have to then use added protection with their sexual partners/spouses for six months minimum/risk exposing them, too. Starbucks makes various excuses from "it looks bad" to "drug users will just take the boxes off the walls and steal the needles." Employees cannot legally be forced to remove needles, but when they ask to call hazmat, they're told "hazmat cost comes from the individual store budget" (a veiled threat of even less staff coverage on an already short-staffed floor because no money to pay them if it is used for hazmat). Making coffee should not come with this kind of easily detoured risk.

Protections for graduate employees are vital to their success, as well as the success of the university. We know that students who do not feel safe or protected may not reach their full potential or may leave due to the fear of persecution. If the UIC administration cares about its graduate employees then they should have no issue agreeing to write these protections into our collective bargaining agreement (the contract) as this will give graduate employees the strongest protections and set them up to succeed academically, professionally, and personally.

It would make our jobs a lot easier.There are a lot of heavy items such as 60 lb bag of peanuts, dog food, cases of water, kitty litter.That is very heavy to lift over the registers.Not only that, our customers would benefit as well, because they wouldn't have to lift the items.I mean come on even small gas stations have them.

Health care is a human right. Accessible, affordable health care should be available for all, not just the rich. Yet Cummins, Inc. – the $20 billion global diesel engine company – is forcing its employees into health insurance plans that have deductibles as high as $6,000/year for family coverage and can leave families with tens of thousands of dollars in annual out-of-pocket costs. This is immoral. Our health insurance does anything but keep us healthy. In fact, many of us go without our prescription medicine, or don’t go to the doctor, or don’t get new glasses, because we fear the thought of potential medical bills. If we do seek medical attention, we can be overwhelmed with debt so large we are forced to work overtime, or negotiate monthly payments, or pay with credit cards that accrue interest, or battle with bill collectors. Even those who are healthy struggle, as young families are consumed with pregnancy and childbirth costs. Many Cummins retirees say they can’t afford to be part of Cummins’ retiree insurance despite devoting their lives to making Cummins successful. Cummins is a Fortune 500 company that reported $999 million in net profit in 2017. In 2016, the company built a primary care “LiveWell Center” at its headquarters in Columbus, Indiana. It is a state-of-the art facility that provides free and reduced-cost healthcare services such as primary care doctors, free lab work, and free x-rays. It’s convenient for Cummins executives and workers in the surrounding areas, but not for the thousands of employees who live in other states. Cummins should ensure that its employees can access needed medical care without wiping out their paychecks and their savings. No one should risk their health or their life because they’re afraid of the cost of care. Do the right thing and provide us with health insurance that covers the health care we need year-round, not insurance that doesn’t kick in until we spend thousands out of our own pockets each year.

Labor Laws, protecting workers rights, were hard fought for and established long ago by organized labor workers - Many of whom gave their lives to establish the workers rights of today - However, despite the mistreatment of Drivers as LESS THAN EMPLOYEES and that legally UBER/LYFT should not be able to "dictate the manner in which we perform our services" - Despite all this, according to UBER/LYFT, Drivers are considered to be "Independent Contractors" if this is so then UBER/LYFT at minimal, must disclose to Drivers the full terms and conditions of each ride request, prior to ride acceptance by Drivers - A reasonable time period must be provided for Drivers to evaluate the details for each ride request being offered before deciding to accept (Offer & Acceptance -in contract law). If ride request is not acceptable to Driver then Driver has the right, as a true independent contractor, to refuse the ride request offered by tapping a REJECT button - To be included in the Driver App - with NO retaliatory threats of deactivation of Driver by UBER/LYFT. This REJECT feature would MAXIMIZE EFFICIENCY & PUBLIC SAFETY of App. BENEFITS - Saves valuable time for both Drivers and Riders by passing ride request IMMEDIATELY to next potential Driver. NO need to wait for ride request clock to timeout: • DRIVERS: IMMEDIATELY receive their next ride request much faster - Time is money - Practically eliminates cancellations - Better matching to desired Rider creates excellent ride experience - Reduced distracted driving & possible accidents by eliminating time delay to view their GPS • RIDER: - Greatly reduces wait time frustration and cancellations. - Better matching to READY, WILLING & ABLE Driver creates excellent ride experience It's a NO BRAINER how a simple REJECT BUTTON in App contributes to overall App Efficiency and Public Safety - Greatly reducing distracted driving and physically exhausted drivers causing accidents is a WIN-WIN-WIN situation for everyone! Implementing a smoother App platform functionality even benefits the environment by decreasing the overwhelming traffic congestion and resulting carbon footprint caused by inefficient operations of Rideshare vehicles.

Dear Ginni Rometty: In response to your open letter to Mr. Trump [1], we are disappointed that you did not reaffirm the core values which differentiate both IBM as a company and us collectively as IBMers. While we understand your willingness to engage in constructive dialogue with the president-elect, we believe our shared culture and values remain not only constant, but also central to our transformation underpinned by cloud and cognitive initiatives. As you know, more than 400,000 IBMers around the world work in environments where diversity—including diversity of thought—is the norm. IBM values this because our diversity helps create innovation that enhances every aspect of our business. Your internal memo to employees, advocating diversity and the open exchange of ideas, echoes IBM President Tom Watson’s Policy Letter #4 [2]. Watson’s letter reaffirmed IBM’s moral leadership by refusing to discriminate on the basis of race, resisting the prevailing attitudes of governors in the southern United States. In this instance, Watson sacrificed short-term business interests in order to be on the right side of history, something IBM takes pride in today. IBM’s leadership in this domain is more essential than ever. If we cannot boldly and openly affirm our commitment to diversity, then who are we? The right thing to do for IBM workers and our stakeholders—which includes every person on the planet touched by our technology—is to emphasize this in writing to public officials. Yet writing is not enough. We have a moral and business imperative to uphold the pillars of a free society by declining any projects which undermine liberty, such as surveillance tools threatening freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. The kinds of moral decisions you and our senior executives make in the next four years will define our corporate character for our next century. This will be your legacy. Taking a conservative approach has grave implications. Our own founder’s experience and the rest of history teach us that accommodating those who unleash forces of aggressive nationalism, bigotry, racism, fear, and exclusion inevitably yields devastating outcomes for millions of innocents. IBMers are members of a global family without borders. Hostile rhetoric towards immigrants, Muslims, Latinos, LGBT people, and others impinge on our core values of tolerance, diversity, and open exchange of ideas that are essential for innovation and our ability to recruit top talent. In this present context of insecurity and unpredictability, we also share deep concerns about recent reductions in benefits programs. This has consequences on the morale, retention, and well-being of long-term IBMers, especially those affected by our company’s transformation. For our mutual aid and protection, we petition you to do what is right for IBMers, our business, and society, on the basis of equitable treatment and fairness: (1) Respect our right to refuse participation in any U.S. contracts that violate constitutional and civil liberties. (2) Expand our diversity recruitment programs specifically targeting women, people of color, and LGBT people with the goal of doubling recruitment of these groups in 2017 and steadily increasing the share of these groups as a proportion of new hiring in subsequent years. (3) Prohibit perceived influence-peddling of elected officials by restricting IBM and its employees from using any Trump owned or Trump branded properties for business purposes, in accordance with the IBM Business Conduct Guidelines. (4) Treat established workers with dignity by restoring the 2015 Individual Separation Allowance Plan that provided severance based on years of employment instead of the current one-month severance plan for all employees, regardless of time served. (5) Make IBM retirement plan contributions equitable by restoring company 401k match contributions to regular pay cycles instead of a one-time, year-end contribution that is contingent on being employed as of December 15 of the calendar year, which is not fair to employees who are laid off before that date. As IBMers, we strive to be engaged citizens of the world; innovating how we think and work; collaborating across cultures, time zones, and borders; and, in doing so, we make a positive impact locally and globally. While our differences shape who we are as individual IBMers, our shared corporate culture and values remain central to our success. We petition you to affirm this identity, and we thank you in advance for your leadership and courage in the years ahead. Respectfully, Your fellow IBMers, past and present [1] https://www.ibm.com/blogs/policy/ibm-ceo-ginni-romettys-letter-u-s-president-elect/ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PByaqDeBEzE

Last May, you asked the nurses of USC to complete a nursing satisfaction survey. As you are aware, 7 South had lower scores in all areas of the survey. We are now asking you to make changes that will not only improve the satisfaction of our nurses, but will also fix the patient safety crisis that is being faced in 7 South. We have struggled with a staffing shortage for over a year, and have been asking you to address the situation since Huron was hired and the nursing restructuring occurred. The deplorable conditions under which we have been working has caused mental and physical stress. We exhibit signs of nursing burnout, yet we are told that we are the cause, and that we need to create a solution in order to be able to have new staff hired into our unit. No consideration has been made into the cause of our fatigue; no thought pondered for the immense amount of pressure under which we work. We have just been told to wait. As patient advocates, this petition is informing you that it is in our professional opinion that we can wait no longer. The staffing crisis is unsafe, and is placing patients and nurses at risk. These demands are what are necessary to increase morale, improve satisfaction scores, increase nurse retention, and prepare us for achieving Magnet status. How bad does the staffing crisis have to be; how many more patients are going to be negatively impacted by not receiving the proper care they need and deserve; and how many more work-related injuries will there be before you recognize the unique needs of 7 South and our patients? You are now notified that in our professional judgments the staffing situation is unsafe and places our patients and staff at risk. Under protest, we will attempt to care for our patients to the best of our ability, but it is you who are now responsible for any adverse effects on patient care due to the staffing crisis. We would like to meet with you and our union representative to discuss a plan of implementation within the next two weeks.

This is a cry for workplace fairness at Coffee Tree. Employers have been utilizing intimidation tactics, shaming and manipulation, and retaliation to rob workers of their basic rights for too long, often taking advantage of employees' lack of familiarity with these work laws. Now is the time to cease these activities. Outlined below are the concerns and clear violations of workers' rights: STOP DENYING PAID REST BREAKS. (Under the ES.C.6 Meal and Rest Periods - Employees are entitled to a minimum 10 minute rest break for each 4 hours worked. The rest period of time must be scheduled as near as possible to the midpoint of the four hours of working time. No employee may be required to work more than three consecutive hours without a rest period). Employers have been exploiting the loophole ("if the nature of the work involves several intermittent rest periods equal to ten minutes, a rest break is not required") to deny workers a 10, even when workers have been working continuously. It's also important to note that the ES.C.6 specifies that a series of ten 1-minute breaks is not sufficient to meet this requirement. Many of us will experience shifts where we work longer hours than we were scheduled for, work continuously, and are entitled to a ten minute break but are either not made aware of this right, or are strongly discouraged from exercising this right. The restructuring of a workers' schedule into double 3.9 hr shifts as punishment for insisting on his or her 10 minute break, while not unlawful, is cheap and abominable. This redesigning not only limits the overall breaks for an employee during an entire workday, but also results in less employee satisfaction and production. Similarly, comparative shaming as a tool to discourage one or more employees from taking rest breaks creates a negative environment where employees don’t feel valued or secure. Employers must honor the work and time of an employee as evidenced in person or in surveillance which entitle the worker to his/her paid break. STOP TRYING TO RESTRICT BATHROOM ACCESS. According to DOSH, restroom breaks cannot be restricted (within reason) and do not count as a paid 10 minute rest break, though employees may choose to use the bathroom on their paid break. This is a basic health and safety right. Intimidating workers by recording length of bathroom breaks and using it as negative commentary in an employee file is despicable. STOP RETALIATING AGAINST EMPLOYEES ADVOCATING FOR THEIR RIGHTS. Concerted activity (activity done to address health/safety concerns or to improve the workplace conditions) is protected from acts of retaliation (firing, cutting of hours, creating unnecessary write-ups, wage/tip deduction). As an employee currently suffering a suspension from positive workplace actions, I am pushing for awareness that this action is not appropriate or legal. STOP UNLAWFUL WAGE DEDUCTIONS. In the training phase, we are told that cash drawer shortages, damage to the store, or excessive waste will result in our wages or tips being garnished to fill those losses. According to the Washington State Legislature (WAC 296-126-025): The only time a workers’ income (hourly wage and tips) should be garnished is with court orders, with a personal agreement with keeping a tab in the workplace, a loan, or some other extenuating circumstance. Cash shortages in tills, and accidental waste/breakage are specifically pointed out as being unlawful reasons for wage deduction. In addition, the employers have never been held accountable and continue to seize half of worker earned tips for themselves. Under FLSA, managerial and professional positions are not eligible to take a cut of tips from tipped employees. Coffee Tree employers must observe these laws, return money unlawfully taken from employees in the past, and cease this procedure altogether. Protecting quantifiable losses of the stores (time and money) at the expense of the businesses' most valuable commodity, the workers, is not lawful or virtuous. Let us strive not only for great coffee and customer care, but also great care of employees. Let us recognize when breaks are warranted. Let us thrive together.

MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world. Mixed Martial Artists should be treated like professional athletes. Fighters should have the right to know how much money a promotion is making from an event. Fans should have the right to see the best possible fights through independent rankings. Extending the Ali Act to MMA would help professionalize the sport & stop the conflicts of interests that currently exist in the sport.

In the Vermont dairy industry, forty percent of dairy workers receive less than the VT minimum wage and twenty percent have their first wages withheld--this is wage theft. Thirty percent have to work seven or more hours without a break to eat, and the same number have had mostly preventable workplace injuries or illnesses. Many workers work 12-14 hour days without a day of rest, and significant numbers live in deplorable housing conditions. This is an unacceptable state of affairs for any supply chain, but it is particularly appalling to see this level of abuse in Ben and Jerry’s supply chain given the company's long standing commitment to social justice and corporate responsibility. The good news is we already know there is a solution that works and there are some farms that are demonstrating that dignified working conditions are possible. Migrant Justice is calling on Ben & Jerry's to create a worker-driven social responsibility program -- the Milk with Dignity Program -- fashioned after the globally acclaimed and highly effective Fair Food Program in Immokalee Florida. Many dairy farmers are also facing serious economic challenges and are in need of economic relief. The Milk with Dignity Program rewards those farms that have it right by having corporate participants pay more down the supply chain to both the farmer and the farmworker. We anticipate many farms to enthusiastically support this initiative. The Milk with Dignity program is in line with the mission of social responsibility on which Ben & Jerry’s has built its legacy, image, and financial success. Your customer base wants, and is already demanding, products that support dignified livelihoods for both farmworkers and farmers. The company has done this before for cows, consumers and the environment in its impressive work to eliminate RGBH from its supply chain. The company has done this for chickens with its commitment to cage-free eggs. Ben and Jerry's can do this for the workers facing inhumane workplace conditions while supplying the cream its company depends on. We urge Ben and Jerry's to sit at the table with VT dairy farmworkers to build a vibrant and much needed Milk with Dignity Program that respects workers leadership and ensures human rights in its dairy supply chain.

Two nights ago, after standing on my feet for hours during a late shift, I asked my shift manager who was coming in to replace me so I could finally go home and rest. My shift manager berated me and threatened me with violence saying he was going to hit me with the fry basket. I backed away but after the threats continued I firmly told him he needed to stop. Then he slapped me across the face in front of other workers. The next morning my General Manager and District Manager called me into their office, said they had watched the tape of the incident and told me, "He didn't hit you that hard" I am offended, outraged and disappointed that no one in management, even though they had watched the security tape of the assault, was taking it seriously. Letting my shift manager off the hook because he didn't draw blood or knock me out is beyond insulting.