*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.

Ending worker exploitation in America is the right thing to do. Join us on Twitter Rideshare America @ridesharepay

Over three thousand employees at Google recently wrote a letter to their CEO explaining their opposition to Project Maven [1], after learning that their work was part of a US Department of Defense contract being considered. We are employees of the tech industry who invite all supporters to join us in amplifying their demand to break these contracts across the industry. The DoD contracts under consideration by Google, and similar contracts at IBM, Microsoft [2] and Amazon [3] break user trust, and signal a dangerous alliance between the US military and the tech industry. Tech companies that have vast quantities of sensitive data from users across the globe shouldn’t build offensive technology for one country’s military. Google says its technology will only be used to “non-offensive” ends. Our last few years working in the tech industry has issued reminder after painful reminder of the unintended outcomes of even benignly-designed tech. We can no longer ignore our industry’s and our technologies’ harmful biases, large scale breaches of trust, and lack of ethical safeguards. These are life and death stakes. We risk potentially catastrophic outcomes if we continue to deploy global technical systems without care, deliberation, and a clear understanding of our significant responsibility. In signing this petition, we represent a growing network of tech workers who commit to never “just follow orders”, but to hold ourselves, each other, and the industry accountable. Sign on and join us as we demand that Google break its contract with the DoD, urge our employers at IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon to stay out of the business of war, and call upon our peers to adopt binding ethical standards for the use of AI. 1. "‘The Business of War’: Google Employees Protest Work for the Pentagon" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/technology/google-letter-ceo-pentagon-project.html 2. "Ungrateful Google Plebes Somehow Not Excited to Work on Military Industrial Complex Death Machines" https://futurism.com/google-maven-drones-military-contract/ 3. "Google is Pursuing the Pentagon’s Giant Cloud Contract Quietly, Fearing An Employee Revolt" https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/04/google-pursuing-pentagons-giant-cloud-contract-quietly-fearing-employee-revolt/147407/ *No names will be visible on the petition until the petition reaches 100 signatures. At that point your first name and last initial only will appear, not your workplace. Tech Workers Coalition may reach out to you on the basis of your workplace.*

These types of agreements may be legal, but they cut against core Georgetown values. Our community is grounded in a Jesuit tradition that supports the well-being of the whole person—the “cura personalis.” And the law school’s motto is, “Law is but the means; justice is the end.” In order to live up to these values, Georgetown must do its part to end the use of mandatory arbitration and NDAs in ways that silence the victims of sexual harassment and workplace abuses. [1] https://takecareblog.com/blog/munger-tolles-proves-why-we-still-need-metoo [2] https://twitter.com/Orrick/status/978344236725735425 [3] https://twitter.com/isamuel/status/979375191175450625 [4] https://goo.gl/FYujGs Contacts: Stephen Schultze ([email protected]), Rachel Lee ([email protected]), Nicholas Wertsch ([email protected])

We can no longer be silent about the sexual harassment that may be occurring in Comcast locations. I worked at Comcast call centers in Washington, DC, then Silver Spring, MD, and finally Millersville, MD from 2007 through 2012. At the Millersville location, I felt so uncomfortable around certain male coworkers that I often used the restroom on the other side of the building just so I could avoid being in their presence. When I finally had the courage to report these incidents to our human resources department, I felt that my managers and the colleagues that I had reported retaliated against me. I received threats walking down the call center hallways and was likely singled out during the then upcoming mid-year review. I felt afraid and trapped. I loved my job and I was good at it. My goal was to give customers a positive experience with Comcast and the company’s services, reversing the negative image many have associated with cable companies. But this became increasingly difficult for me to fulfill in Comcast’s toxic work environment. Comcast must act swiftly to address this problem, by conducting an independent third party review of its sexual harassment policies and employee experiences. In conjunction with solutions from this review, I believe the following changes will help employees like me who may still be dealing with harassment at Comcast: 1. HR representatives should be present at call centers and large Comcast workplaces 2. Protect Comcast employees from retaliation for reporting sexual harassment to HR 3. Fire perpetrators of sexual harassment in Comcast workplaces We all deserve a workplace where we can come in and do good work without distraction. We deserve a workplace where we feel safe and empowered to make positive contributions to the company. I believe Comcast’s lax implementation of its sexual harassment policies creates a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety for many employees, especially women employees. At the end of the day, the pervasive culture of sexual harassment I experienced at Comcast is bad for business. As an employee of Comcast, my work performance suffered as a result of consistent experiences of sexual harassment. While working at the call center, Comcast customers likely could even hear the sexual and inappropriate comments being made in the background. Most importantly, acts of sexual harassment violate employees’ dignity as human beings. Many Comcast employees may have felt powerless to speak up for themselves and address the situation because HR was not doing enough to protect us from workplace harm. Comcast must be held accountable for its sexual harassment problem and create a safe, respectful work environment.

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.

Background: Ana Hernandez, Altagracia Reyes, Alejandro Roman, Lucas Efrain, and Angel Morales were all fired from their jobs at Matchbox throughout March, 2017. They believe that they were fired in retaliation for taking concerted action to protest unfair working conditions and have organized to take community and legal action. Read their testimonies below and add your signature in support! (Ana Hernandez, Altagracia Reyes, Alejandro Roman, Lucas Efrain, y Angel Morales salieron despedidos de sus trabajos en Matchbox en varias fechas en Marzo, 2017. Creen que han sido despedidos en represalia organizarse para protestar condiciones laborales injustas, y se han organizado para tomar acción comunitaria y acción legal. Lean sus testimonios aquí y agregue su firma en apoyo!) TESTIMONIES: Ana Hernandez: "I had been working for Matchbox in the kitchen for nearly 8 years when I was fired. I worked at Matchbox Chinatown for the majority of the time, until March 1, 2017, when they told me that I had to accept a transfer to Pentagon City or I would not have any more work. As soon as I started at Pentagon City, I saw the amount of abuses that there were there. There was no break, we didn’t eat all day, we didn’t even want to drink water because there wasn’t any time to go to the bathroom. The list of tasks for the prep workers is so long that I was never allowed me to leave on time to go to my English classes at night. I started a petition and asking my coworkers to sign to demand better working conditions. I had gotten eight signatures, when the sous chef asked my coworker Alta why I was asking for signatures. Three days later, the chef called me and said that he wanted to talk to me. The next day, after my shift, the chef called me over and fired me." Altagracia Reyes: "I have worked in the kitchen at Matchbox on various occasions since 2006, in Chinatown and Pentagon City. When I started at Pentagon City, they increased the amount of work and started being disrespectful. I signed Ana’s petition because I agreed with the goals. The day after Ana was fired, I had to defend my coworker, because she was being given too much work and she is a pregnant woman. I asked the chef to give us more staff to help us with the prep work. My coworker started to cry and explained to the chef that her doctor says the baby is underweight and that she isn’t allowed to eat all day. I stood up for her, but the chef said that it didn’t matter to him neither if anyone is pregnant or if we use the bathroom. The next day, I went with three coworkers from Matchbox to the corporate office. We told the president of the company about the abuses that we were experiencing in his restaurant. But the next day the chef sent me a text that just said, 'No más trabajo (no more work).'" Alejandro Roman: "I have worked in the kitchen at Matchbox Chinatown for seven years, without a break and without a vacation. In January, they started changing us around to different stations, without training us or asking us, and they started to fire people, reducing the amount of staff working at each station and increasing our total amount of work. On the Day Without Immigrants, on February 16, we all agreed to participate in the strike. The chef called us to him individually and asked us if we were going to work that day. It was my day off, and when he asked me to work that day I told him I couldn’t. Two weeks later, the chef changed our stations around again. He put my coworker, Angel, on the station making dough and on the oven. I helped Angel tell the chef in English that he couldn’t work at that station, because he didn’t have the necessary training and because the heat from the oven hurts his eyes. The chef said, “I don’t care.” I told him that he needed to be respectful of his people. I told him that I was going to go and speak with his superior, and he immediately gave me a punch card, and told Angel and I, and our coworker Efrain, that we were fired." Angel Morales: "I’d worked about two years in Matchbox before I was fired. When I heard about the general strike on February 16, I decided to participate with my coworkers. When the chef asked me if I was going to work that day, I told him that I couldn’t because I was participating in the Day Without Immigrants. Two weeks after the strike, they moved me to a different station, they sent me to make the dough and to put the pizzas in the oven. Besides that I don’t know that station, I also have a problem with my eyes and it’s damaging to them to be in front of the oven. I asked my coworker Alejandro to help me explain to the chef my problem in English, and the chef said that it didn’t matter and that I had to do it. I told him again that I couldn’t, and he fired me. That was when Alejandro argued with the chef, and they ended up firing all three of us." Lucas Efrain: "I started to work at Matchbox in 2012, left in June, 2014, and started to work there again in December, 2016. Before the Day Without Immigrants, the chef asked us individually if we could work that day, and I told him that I couldn’t. He asked me why, and I told him because I was going to support the Day Without Immigrants. “If you don’t work, I will take other measures,” he said. About two weeks later, when I got to work in the morning the chef sent me to work on the salad station, although I am always on the fry station. I told him that I didn’t know how to prep the things for the station, but that when all the ingredients were filled, I could take the tickets because I knew how to make the salads. He said that it didn't matter, that I had to work there. I can’t, I said. While this was happening, the chef was also arguing with Alejandro. He said “bye” to all three of us, and were were all fired together. We aren’t the first nor the last people suddenly fired unjustly. They have a pattern of firing people without any justification. Many people have been fired."

Starbucks paper cups exact a huge toll on the global plastic pollution problem -- and the majority of coffee-addicts and baristas still don't know it's happening! I've been a barista for 5 years and sustainability is important to me -- and I bet other partners agree. I'm working with Stand.earth, an environmental organization, to show Starbucks that partners want to see them do more for the environment by using sustainable cups. Starbucks has emerged as the industry leader in caffeinating the world, and therefore has a duty to its customers, as well as past and present partners, to do be more responsible with their trash!

My name is Susan* and I work as a cleaner at a Myer store in Melbourne. Cleaners like me work around the clock keeping Myer stores clean and hygienic. But dodgy subcontractors are underpaying us by up to $20 an hour. We are denied basic rights like sick pay, weekend rates and superannuation. If we complain we can be sacked at any time – many of us are too frightened to join our union and speak out. A few weeks ago a Myer cleaner was sacked when he asked about his rights. So was his sister – and his partner. And they weren’t even there! Myer threw out its last contractor earlier this year because cleaners were being exploited. Now it’s happening again. We should be paid properly, and be able to work without fear or intimidation. The system is unjust and is failing us. Please stand with me and my fellow cleaners and tell Myer it needs to clean up its act and demand we are directly employed and receive our full legal pay. *Not my real name.

All workers deserve to be treated fairly. That's what we're asking for here.

We thought that working for the National Whistleblower Center (NWC) meant that we would be free to question our employer. We were wrong. We, attorneys Richard Renner and Lindsey Williams, along with three of our co-workers, were fired after questioning our bosses about the NWC’s finances and trying to organize a union. It all started when the NWC announced the historic $104 million award granted to UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld. Shortly afterward, the NWC founders told us that despite our hard work and the influx of cash, they were unable to afford the raises they had repeatedly promised. This did not make any sense to us. After our questions were ignored, we attempted to organize a union as a way to force them to be more transparent with their finances. Retaliation was swift and harsh. We were all fired on November 5, 2012, one by voicemail. To add insult to injury, the severance agreements they offered included an appallingly broad gag clause. The proposed agreements said if we accepted the money we could “not, criticize, disparage, or say or do anything that casts [the employer] in a negative light” to “any other person.” There is huge financial pressure on employees to sign these types of gag clauses. In fact, The Whistleblower’s Handbook written by one of the NWC founders, Stephen M. Kohn, has an entire chapter encouraging employees not to sign gag clauses. Apparently, he did not mean that advice to apply to his own employees. Three of our co-workers signed the agreements. We refused because we believed that the gag clauses violated labor laws and NWC’s stated mission. We filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in January 2013. The NLRB investigated the charges and found enough evidence to proceed with prosecution against NWC for wrongful termination. We were finally able to reach a settlement shortly before the trial would have begun. As part of the settlement, the NWC agreed to remove all mention of our terminations from their records and post a notice to all employees that they would not be retaliated against for exercising their legal rights to work collectively to improve their wages and working conditions. We want the NWC Board of Directors to publicly state that gag clauses in severance agreements (or other employment agreements) are against the core mission of the organization, in violation of the National Labor Relations Act, and, therefore, will not be used by the NWC in the future. We also want NWC to commit that existing gag clauses will not be enforced. We don’t want what happened to us to happen again. Our case serves as a reminder that any worker can have his or her legal rights violated – even lawyers. It also reminds us that every employer should be held accountable when they break the law – even the National Whistleblowers Center. For more information visit: www.fearinghonesty.org.

You might not have heard of B&E Poultry but they’re quickly becoming one of the biggest poultry companies in Australia. They are involved in supplying chicken to Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, KFC and Pizza Hut. B&E Poultry and their subcontractors pay their employees wages that are below the legal minimum. Their workers are now owed tens of thousands of dollars in back pay and B&E is refusing to pay up. NUW backpackers here on working holidays are demanding back pay now! Here is one couple's story: We came to Australia for a working holiday. We wanted to earn some money and travel around Australia. We really wanted to see Uluru, Cairns, Sydney and Tasmania, but we haven't been able to see any of these. We haven’t been able to earn enough money to leave Victoria. In July 2014 we got a job with a man at a poultry factory. We regularly worked more than 10 hours a day, sometimes until midnight. We were paid $16 or $17 per hour cash-in-hand no matter what time of day it was or how long we worked. We didn't realise this was not legal in Australia. Lots of holiday makers were being paid this way. We signed a lot of paperwork, but it was never clear what it was. Our breaks changed all the time, sometimes when it was busy our smoke break would disappear. We would clock on and off, but our supervisor would pay what he thought instead of what our clock cards said. The work was hard and we felt very tired. We were pushed to work harder and faster and I was scared that I would be injured. I felt like my English wasn’t good enough so I wouldn't be able to get work anywhere else. It felt like discrimination. Taiwanese holiday makers were always forced to do overtime for the flat rate. Permanent workers didn't get offered overtime. We can understand how local workers are angry about this too. Somewhere along the line we became employees of a contractor called B&E poultry. It was always unclear who we were working for. One day we found out about the union through another backpacker. Organisers from the union came to our house and spoke to us. We realised what was happening wasn't right. We all decided to join the union. Through word of mouth and social media, working holiday visa workers in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney who work for B&E subcontractors heard what we were doing and joined us in demanding back pay and fair treatment. We would like all holiday makers in Australia to be treated with respect during their time in Australia and earn at least the legal minimum for the work they do. If we had been on minimum wage we would have been earning $25.44 , and maybe we would have been able to see Uluru. This petition is about equality and respect, something we have learned the union movement in Australia will fight for. **************************** 你在澳洲可能從未聽過 B&E 雞肉廠這家公司，但在他們在雞肉產業快速成長，他們所提供的勞動力遍佈全澳。他們上游的供應商包括知名的超市，Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, 等，大型速食業KFC 和Pizza Hut。這家人力仲介與他旗下的工頭聯手，以低薪價格來欺瞞背包客，現今，所有他們旗下的背包客共欠薪高達澳幣數十萬元，而他們還以拖延手段不願償還！NUW 代表這些工會裡的背包客要求B&E 立即清償所有欠薪！ 以下是來自兩個背包客的自述： 我們到澳洲打工度假，所參與的短期工作只是為了賺錢可以環遊澳洲，我們很想看烏魯魯的大石頭、雪梨、凱恩斯、和塔斯馬尼亞，但我們哪都沒去，我們根本沒賺到足夠的錢離開維多利亞州。 去年七月我們在雞肉廠找到一份工作 一開始時從下午一點半開始工作到晚上十點，有時甚至工作到半夜。老闆給我們一小時時薪$16-17元不等，而且都是領現金。我們不曉得這在澳洲是違法的，很多背包客的工作都是算小時直接領現金的，剛進入工廠時，我們簽屬了一堆文件，但從沒人跟我們解釋我們簽了甚麼。 我們的休息時間經常變動，很多時間當工廠訂單大時，我們連休息時間都被犧牲了，我們跟其他在地工人一樣，打卡上下班，但是我們的薪水從來沒有依照打卡時間來給付。 工作很辛苦而且我們常覺得很累，生產部門常常要我們做快一點，我常覺得不知道甚麼時候我就會在工作時發生意外，因為自己的英文能力有限，我覺得在別的地方會找不到工作。 常常在工作時，我都會感受到種族歧視，台灣的背包客總是被強迫加班，而且也沒有加班費，在地的工人因為全職的保障，起薪高加班費也加成，所以老闆不會給他們加班的機會，我也能理解到為何在地工人常常藉機找我們麻煩。 我常覺得就是因為我的薪水比別人低，所以經理常常使喚我們做東做西 在無意間我們得知，原來我們是受雇一家叫做B&E的雞肉處理廠仲介，之前我們根本不知道自己的雇主是誰。 透過其他的背包客我們才知道有工會的存在，這些工會的組織者到我們家跟我們解釋我們的工作權利，我們才知道原來一直以來我們拿的薪水連基本的薪資都不到，另一方面，連最基本的工作權利都被雇主故意忽略。 透過社群網路的宣傳力量，散落在全澳各地如墨爾本、雪梨或阿德等為B&E工作的背包客們，都紛紛加入了我們，除追訴欠薪外並要求再工作上最基本的尊重。而這些背包客所處理的雞肉供應跨及全澳，包括最大的量販賣場如Coles, Woolworths, 及其他速食業等。 我們希望所有在澳洲的打工度假者，在勞動市場中都能跟在地的工人一樣，享有最基本的工作權利，拿取法定基本的薪資。如果我們能拿到法定雞肉廠的時薪$25.44澳幣，我們就能完成去烏魯魯的夢想了。 這份聯署書是起草於尊重與平等，我們相信澳洲的工會運動會起而跟我們並肩作戰。