Oh, IKEA, you’d think you’d learn from all the past corporate attempts to create a Twitter hashtag to promote your brand, attempts that have been subverted by culture jammers. Maybe IKEA will get away with this one, #HouseRules, but in the spirit of the Occupy Movement rebooting on Friday with the #WaveOfAction, we should try … Continue reading Occupy IKEA’s #HouseRules
Values, discrimination, the Swedish way: all these ideas are in the mix as stakeholders of IKEA’s treatment of workers express how they feel about IKEA’s plan to break its union in Richmond, BC. We’ve been writing about this new front line in Canada’s war against workers for months now. But the members of Teamsters Local … Continue reading IKEA: Swedish for Discrimination Against Workers
So if you have sent your letter to IKEA explaining why you are boycotting them for locking out their Richmond workers for 10 weeks, you may have received this precious reply from the corporation, below. I will re-spin it down there, but first I need to talk about words. For IKEA, “strike” is Swedish for … Continue reading IKEA’s (Sad) Spin Reply to My Boycott Letter
The best part of the Teamster Local 213 rally in Richmond on Saturday was the humanity: the stage was largely filled with Teamsters telling their stories, showing everyone how this 10 week lockout is affecting them as people, and the “humanity” that IKEA markets itself with around the world. IKEA made $3.85 billion in profits … Continue reading It’s 12 O’Clock, Have You Boycotted IKEA Yet Today?
Ikea, that family-friendly darling of home decor and Swedish innocence is trying to break its union, Teamsters Local 213. They have locked out their Richmond, BC workers for two months now, while deciding to bargain in reverse: Start with a pathetic offer, then as time goes by, if locked out workers don’t come back, the … Continue reading Ikea’s Union-Busting Lockout in Richmond, BC Reaches Two Months
Generating enough media spin to rival a jet engine at take off, the management and PR folks at Ikea Canada want you to believe that their poor little corporation is being held hostage by greedy, soulless union workers in Richmond. Woe. Pity poor Ikea. It’s tough being a multi-national corporation with a reputation for … Continue reading Profits Before People: Richmond Ikea Lockout Enters Day 17
Oh, what a list it would be! Enbridge? Kinder Morgan [the zombie child of Enron]? Imperial Metals [fanciful producers of the Mount Polley Mine disaster]? Other companies that treat workers badly like IKEA or Rocky Mountain Railtours? Capitalism is all about worshiping Frankencorporations that are immortal, legally a human being, limit the liability of owners … Continue reading Which BC Corporations Would YOU Like to Euthanize?
GMAFB Capitalism dissociates us from each other. It makes us embrace consumerism and individualism and erodes community and cohesion. Yet, oddly, Lululemon’s mantra of elevating the world from mediocrity to greatness is about liberating us from those shackles. Oddly, based on Ayn Rand’s whacko philosophy [see below], we need to be liberated from such an … Continue reading Elevate the World from Mediocrity to Greatness? Lululemon? GMAFB
It’s Earth Day. Let’s honour our ecology by rebooting Occupy Vancouver on May Day! At first, I put out a call to see who wants to have a meeting to discuss connecting a rebooted Occupy Vancouver with the worldwide #WaveOfAction that started on April 4 and extends [at least] to July 4. We call these … Continue reading Occupy Vancouver Will Meet Again at 6:15pm on May 1
First, it started with IKEA, which has been locking out its Richmond, BC workers for 11 months. Then it expanded to a white Richmond farmer who isn’t all that happy with all the non-white farmers changing the complexion of farming in BC. So we’re all committing to #BoycottIKEA and boycotting W & A Farms products. … Continue reading Expanding Our 2014 Boycott List: #BoycottLoblaws