Damon Schnur

That’s right, folks, your eyes do not deceive you. The Crowcast has been delivered two days in a row. I’m a writer by trade, and I know most of you are not paying me for audio files, however, following yesterday’s release of our interview with Ohio Democratic State Auditor nominee Taylor Sappington, we have a guest with an equally important message. Damon Schnur (pronounced Schnore) is a supervisor at Starbucks on 88 E. Broad Street in Columbus, which was the first franchise in Columbus to join the nationwide unionization effort of its baristas under the union flag of Workers United. We had some technology issues with this one, which led to us broadcasting for a third time via our phones. As such, The Rooster sounds he’s using a payphone in state prison. Schur, however, sounds much better, which is good since he does most of the talking. Due to the difficulties, I did not give the man a proper intro as I was sweating bullets trying to figure out how to record a podcast over the phone, and as such we missed his opening monologue about growing up in a union household in Pennsylvania before coming to Ohio, the land of opportunity. He has been at Starbucks for nine years, and his story of service industry working conditions in Columbus will strike similarities with workers outside the corporate coffee industry. The service industry in Columbus, by the way, is a ripe environment for unionization. If the Starbucks on 88 E. Broad wins its union election, it could set off a firestorm of similar attempts throughout the city. It won’t be long into the conversation that you realize the local labor movement is lucky to have Schnur. We look forward to hearing more about him in the future.