>>The union is asking customers to "Buy Union" - and NOT buy non-union from
>>similar stores, when practical. This has been a long-standing union
>>request and has some impact.
>
>How much impact? Has anyone actually studied it?
Studied it? We're lucky if there ARE any progressive boycotts anymore :-)
Seriously, of course there are the well known national examples from the grape boycott to the JP Stevens boycott. And the tactic still works quite a bit at the local level in places like NYC: a few blocks from this store a national drugstore chain was recently forced to close after just a few months of ghost-town like sales when it was boycotted because the residents organized and decided they had too many chain stores already. Remember this store is not just in NYC, it is not just Manhattan, it is the Upper West Side of Manhattan. To prove profitable, the pseudo-gourmet store must draw a middle class crowd from a local 7 block radius that is the among the most liberal (not radical or progressive) in the country. This is very, very different from a Wal-Mart boycott at a national level. In this case, IF, IF the union and the local community activists linked up this would be a very quick victory. Lesson: let's not always sell ourselves short.
But any prospective boycott (and, as of yet I believe a serious boycott has not been launched, 2 days leafleting is just a token threat) would face one hurdle that I think IS illustrative of national problems. This union's membership is towards the "bottom" of the organized working class and faces real obstacles "getting through" to convince the even ostensibly sympathetic elements of the middle class store clientele that this is not some sham or scam (viz. the reactions on this list). These are days of very large income disparities and much of today's (upper) middle class was not born to union households, like they were 20 years ago. And of course the union's leadership lacks the drive and political vision to reach the community. Sad because it would take only a few partly paid organizers from the anti-globalization crowd of the Columbia University community.... (Michael Pollack...interested?)
Michael Pollack's puzzled reaction and the posts from the community e-board that Yoshie posted (nice googling Yoshie) illustrate a big problem we face. The working class needs are there; my understanding is that the union has enough of a bona fide case to be seen as legitimate (but hasn't communicated this properly); there are easily enough young liberal middle class people nearby to win over the community and win over the community. But we are unable to make the bridge between the (largely) middle class activist movement and working class groups. This will require serious efforts to overcome the obstacles on both sides. Big things and little things.
Paul