The labor union representing approximately 9,000 Starbucks baristas, Starbucks Workers United, expressed “solidarity with Palestine” in the wake of the recent conflict that saw over 1,300 Israelis killed.
This stance triggered calls for a boycott of the popular coffee chain. Starbucks Workers United, based in Buffalo, NY, represents 340 Starbucks locations across the United States and shared this message with its nearly 100,000 followers.
The tweet read, “Solidarity with Palestine!” However, Starbucks Workers United subsequently removed the controversial post, although their account did “like” a tweet from one of its members stating, “Once again, free Palestine.”
US Senator Rick Scott from Florida strongly criticized the union for its tone-deaf tweets and urged a boycott of the Seattle-based coffee chain, which boasts over 16,000 locations throughout the country. Scott tweeted, “This is disgusting. Every American should condemn the atrocities that Iran-backed Hamas terrorists committed in Israel. Boycott Starbucks until its leadership strongly denounces and takes action against this horrific support of terrorism.”
Starbucks was swift in distancing itself from the union, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which has more than 2 million members working across various industries in the US and Canada. The company stated, “We unequivocally condemn acts of terrorism, hate, and violence, and disagree with the statements and views expressed by Workers United and its members. Workers United’s words and actions belong to them, and them alone.”
Starbucks Workers United, along with SEIU, “do not represent the company’s views, positions, or beliefs,” according to Starbucks.
Upon contacting Starbucks Workers United for comment, the union directed attention to a statement by SEIU president Mary Kay Henry. She tweeted, “The violence in Israel and Palestine is unconscionable. @SEIU stands with all who are suffering, while strongly condemning anti-Semitism, Islamophobia & hate in all forms. I pray for a swift resolution and a future where all in the region can be happy, safe & live with dignity.”
One of the founding organizers of Starbucks Workers United, Jaz Brisack, has previously expressed support for Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh, who was involved in bombings in Jerusalem in 1969 and 1970. In a 2017 op-ed for the Daily Mississippian, Brisack referred to Odeh as a “political prisoner” and labeled Odeh and her fellow members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the US in 1997, as “freedom fighters,” as reported by the Washington Free Beacon. Odeh was released by Israel as part of a prisoner exchange in 1980 but was arrested in the US in 2013 for illegally entering the country in the 1990s. She was deported to Jordan in 2017.
6 comments:
I hope this is one of the unions ultimately controlled by Italian mafia. While La Familia might not make an ehrlich living, they hold Arab barbarism is disgusting. They will not stand for this kind of nonsense & might leave Brisack or whoever is responsible for the filthy outburst with a pair of broken legs
The only thing unconscionable about the IDF's activity is that are leaving too may pieces of rubble in Gaza that are too large to fit through a chicken-wire mesh screen.
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/starbucks-union-championed-by-bernie-sanders-and-aoc-celebrates-hamas-attacks/
A labor union championed by Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and other liberals expressed solidarity with Hamas terrorists after the worst terrorist attack in Israel's history.
Starbucks Workers United, affiliate of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), expressed "Solidarity with Palestine!" in deleted social media posts. Union chapters in Iowa, Chicago, and Boston promoted rallies in support of the Palestinian attacks, including a "Long Live Palestinian Resistance" rally to be held in Boston on Monday. Hamas slaughtered hundreds of Jews in an invasion into southern Israel over the weekend. Israeli civilians have been killed, as have American citizens.
The Starbucks union, which represents 9,000 baristas, joins other liberal groups siding with Palestinians over Israel. Democratic Socialists of America, which counts 6 House Democrats as members, held rallies in several cities to support Palestinians. A Harvard University dean & dozens of student groups at the Ivy League school blame Israel for provoking the Hamas attack.
Starbucks Workers United landed support in the past from Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders, and Sen. John Fetterman. Ocasio-Cortez cheered the union after it voted in 2021 to organize the first store in Buffalo. Sanders called the union a "tremendous inspiration". Fetterman said h'd "continue to stand" with the union.
The union's rhetoric is no surprise. Jaz Brisack, original organizer of the union, praised Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh as a "freedom fighter," the Washington Free Beacon reported. She stated, "From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free," a chant widely seen as a call for genocide against the Jewish state.
Brisack on Sunday tweeted support for the attacks, writing, "There's no 'two sides' to apartheid. Free Palestine."
Anti-Israel activists and lawmakers such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib frequently accuse Israel of "apartheid" to denigrate the Jewish state.
Individual union members also took to Twitter to endorse Hamas's attacks. One user, by the name "Kyle - Starbucks Workers United," endorsed terrorist violence hours after Hamas launched its invasion.
"Freeing Palestine was never going to be flowers & baby animals," he wrote. "What the fuck did you expect?"
Critics are calling on SEIU to condemn its affiliate's celebration of Hamas.
"SEIU can't take credit for Workers United's organizing wins & then turn a blind eye when the union posts in defense of violent terrorist attacks," Charlyce Bozzello, director at the Center for Union Facts, told the Free Beacon.
"The SEIU & its president, Mary Kay Henry, need to condemn these alarming statements from Workers United," Bozzello added.
Starbucks Workers United & SEIU did not respond to requests for comment. The union deleted its post expressing support for "Gaza resistance" fighters. The social media accounts for stores in Iowa City, Iowa, promoted a "Palestine Resists Occupation" rally at the Israeli consulate in Chicago.
The Boston chapter of the union said Monday that it stands "in solidarity with the people of Palestine and condemn[s] the [IDF] for senselessly & viciously bombing, murdering, and injuring innocent Palestinians."
Drop Mary Kay Henry out of a plane over northern Gaza so she can evacuate with her friends in less than 24 hours to the south of the strip.
Howard Schultz was a strong supporter of toaiva “marriage”, etc
A real rasha. Hopefully Starbucks will go completely disappear off the face of the earth. Are sinners and cause others to sin
BOYCOTT,BOYCOTT,BOYCOTT. LET THEM CHOKE ON THEIR LOUSY COFFEE!
Our national sickness seems to be politics as a fashion statement. Those baristas probably have tattoos and braided armpits. I wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.
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