We each hail from Milwaukee – a city we love deeply. Yet every day, we're faced with the reality that systemic racism, police brutality, and a lack of good jobs have made our community home to both the highest incarceration rate for African Americans and the highest joblessness rate for Black men in the country.

 Roughly 40% of Starbucks' workforce are people of color – yet just 15% of its executives are of color. And in Milwaukee, which is a majority people of color city, African American employees are scarce in Howard Schultz's workforce. Clearly, there is plenty of work for Starbucks to do in its own house. We've each laid out some of our thoughts below.

 From Joe:

 I've worked at Starbucks for three years, and have lived and worked in Milwaukee for the past six months. My crew is excellent, and we support each other through tough days and busy shifts. The people in my store understand the challenges facing the patrons we serve. We are part of our community and we understand its needs. I also know that Starbucks – as a corporate entity – can do a lot more for its workers, customers and the communities it serves.

 During the week of March 16th, my manager distributed a roll of stickers and passed around a handout detailing the new "Race Together" initiative. I was shocked – it seemed so hypocritical when Starbucks employs thousands of baristas of color in jobs that pay poverty wages with too few hours to survive. Why not raise wages so that every barista makes at least $15 an hour and has access to stable, full-time work?
 If the company really cared about racial justice, they would look at the diversity of its workforce. Here in Milwaukee, it's hard to miss the fact that most of the Starbucks employees in this majority people of color city are white. Starbucks should be part of the solution by hiring more people of color in our city and giving these employees jobs that can support a family.

 From Nate:

 When we first learned of Starbucks' new "Race Together" campaign, we were kind of appalled. My brother, Dontre Hamilton, was shot 14 times by police after Starbucks employees repeatedly called the police on him. The people of Milwaukee have been protesting and petitioning for months for Starbucks to meet with us to discuss its role in the killing of my brother, and to help us heal and find a solution so that this tragedy never happens again. We've been asking the Starbucks CEO to speak out in support of our efforts, but have seen little in response.

 I've lived in Milwaukee most of my life and I feel Milwaukee can and must do better. What happened at the Red Arrow Starbucks is a symptom of the lack of investment and opportunity for black folks in Milwaukee. Starbucks has an important role to play here.

 By asking employees – without training or support – to engage in dialogue with total strangers about this deeply personal issue, you’re revealing just how little you understand about white privilege and systemic racism. My brother's tragic killing was an opportunity to initiate a frank conversation about the diversity of Starbucks employees, your policies and practices when dealing with diverse communities, and the impact racial bias, profiling and inequality have on your stores. Instead, corporate has done next to nothing but write #RaceTogether on a cup.

 Howard Schultz has announced that he's coming to Milwaukee on April 1st. I'd like Schultz to commit to real solutions during that visit – not gimmicks. The practices that led to the death of Dontre are being repeated in stores across the country. This isn't a Milwaukee problem, it's a company-wide problem. If Schultz wants to address racism he can start by making meaningful changes in his own business practices, by setting company wide protocols for dealing with diverse communities and by creating good jobs for our communities.

Many workers in our cafeteria have worked ten years, twenty years, or more, providing excellent food to our whole faculty and student community. Now that City College is considering a new food service contractor, many fear that they will lose their jobs, because the CCNY Auxiliary Enterprise Corporation's (AEC) Request for Proposals (RFP) only stipulates that a new "Contractor must interview all members of the previous food service vendor’s staff who are interested in working for Contractor" (RFP, Form 4-- Food Service Operations Contract, Section 5.2.10) [1], not that the new contractor must hire them. We need to quickly alleviate the stress and uncertainty that cafeteria workers and their friends and families are currently enduring and to ensure that principles of fair treatment and respect for workers' service are upheld within the CUNY community. This will show City College cafeteria workers in a very tangible way the great esteem in which our community holds them and their work. [1] http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/aec/upload/CCNY-RFP-Food-Only-123014.pdf

This is very important for generations to come. If we continue to produce waste day after day, month after month and year after year; our planet will be just that; a waste. Let's all work together and recycle more to give more generations a chance at life. Lead By Example. Actions Speak Louder Than Words.

BECAUSE GAS PRICES ARE GOING TO FAST. ITS NOW $3.60 FOR REGULAR. WE CANT AFFORD TO KEEP ON DRIVING AROUND AND NOT BEING ABLE TO PAY FOR OUR GAS. YOU COULD ISSUE OUT UBER GAS CARDS TO THE DRIVERS JUST LIKE PHONES

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。

On Friday, Feb. 27th, union members overwhelmingly rejected a tentative agreement from UofT that did not increase the funding package and instead offered a wage "increase" that was far from keeping up with inflation. Teaching assistants, course instructors, and sessional faculty at the University of Toronto do 60% of the teaching, but earn only 3.5% of the budget. We deserve better. Our working conditions are students' learning conditions. We aren't at our best-- as students or as teachers-- when we are up late worried about paying the bills. Let us focus on the work we love doing- teaching! University of Toronto is Canada's largest university. The success of our efforts impacts teaching assistants, sessionals, and course instructors across the country. Help us send a message that no student workers or sessional (adjunct) faculty should live in poverty! We are now on strike and hoping for a fast resolution so we can get out of the cold and back to teaching- but we are willing to strike as long as it takes!

As stated, patient safety is the primary motivation behind this petition.

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.

On January 27, 2015, Australian employees of International Flavours & Fragrances (IFF) began occupying our factory in Dandenong. We were forced to take this action because local Australian management has pushed us to the brink. We believe matters cannot be resolved with local Australian management and we ask that IFF's leadership listen to us, the IFF workforce in Dandenong, because our voices are not being heard in Australia. All we want is to be heard and genuinely negotiate a workplace agreement, which benefits the interests of both the workers and the interests of the company. We, the workers, have a clear interest in IFF . In the past, and specifically during the negotiations of our last agreement, we were promised there would be a cultural change from management. But things have only gotten worse. Local management couldn't care less about us. There is no acknowledgement of the humanity involved in the process of running a business. We were also promised that, due to a break down with local management, we would have quarterly meetings with the Asia Pacific management team. However, we have had only one of these meetings over the last three years. We believe it is not difficult to treat people with respect. Unfortunately a culture of respect is not encouraged or practiced by management in Australia. Mr Koudijs, we call on you to intervene because we believe Australian management cannot or will not negotiate fairly or respectfully. So far, local management have continued to be provocative and combative, which is not conducive to an agreement being reached. There has been much talk of productivity from local management, and workers have gone to great lengths already, including moving to 24-hour production. Now it is also time to recognise that workers want security, not uncertainty and anxiety. This, not stealing workers' 10 minute breaks, will see an increase in productivity and the health and well being of the workforce. Mr Koudijs, to end this lockout and help deliver a swift and fair agreement, will you meet with workers?

Starbucks is not an easy job, it's hard on your body as well as your mind, and the stress leaves us exhausted. Even part-time employees work because they need the money, but everyone should be given the ability to take time off to vacation with loved ones or take time to regroup and energize, and a mere few hours does not suffice. Personal days are equally important. Life happens. Life doesn't follow a schedule. Things that are out of our control sometimes come up last minute. Employees should not have to sacrifice their pay and potentially threaten their ability to pay their bills, because of a family emergency or the like.

On January 26th, I was terminated by Kelly Cooper, the manager for Walmart store #1772 in Klamath Falls, Oregon, in what I believe was retaliation for my efforts to speak out for a better workplace. I worked at Walmart for 11 years and didn’t have problems until I started getting involved along with other employees across the country in campaigns for better wages, better benefits and other improvements at Walmart. Since then, I have participated in some rallies and events and I joined a nationwide strike at the end of last year. The management at my store knew I’ve been a part of these efforts and have discouraged my coworkers from getting involved. Recently, things got worse. First, I was given a coaching because a manager said I left eggs out of refrigeration for two hours. Later, she changed her story and said it was for 40 minutes. I kept working after the incident, but on January 15, 2015 I was coached by an assistant manager at my store about half an hour before I was scheduled to clock out on my overnight shift because he said I wasn’t doing all of my work. The problem is that those of us who work overnight shifts are given more work and are responsible for more sections of the store than any one person could reasonably be expected to handle. I told him that I was scheduled to work another half hour to 7AM and he walked away. All of a sudden, he had called the police and had them escort me outside the story. He told me I would be arrested if I came back. Without knowing anything about what this meant for my employment, I was told five hours later that I would be suspended without pay until the store manager came back from vacation. When my manager returned several days later, she said she would open an investigation. Just a few days later, she called me in and told me I would be terminated over the egg incident many weeks before -- for which I had already been coached. This doesn’t make sense. To me, it’s clear that the real reason why I was terminated is because of my involvement with OUR Walmart. I’ve heard of other workers being retaliated against for speaking out about how Walmart treats us and I want this to stop. Please join me in asking Walmart to give me my job back and to stop retaliating against employees who speak out about their jobs. In addition to signing on to this petition, you can call Walmart Store #1772 in Klamath Falls, Oregon at 541-885-6890 and tell store manager Kelly Cooper to put me back to work and to do the right thing and be fair to us workers. LEGAL DISCLAIMER: UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.

I have to save some of my vacation every year just in case I get sick. I am a working partner who can't afford to stay home when I am sick.