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by Josh Harkinson at Mothers Jones - April 6, 2009
"Shortly before the inauguration of President Barack Obama, the manager of a Whole Foods grocery store in the San Francisco Bay Area gathered his employees in a conference room for a chat about labor organizing." Read onby Liz Featherstone at Slate - October 29, 2008
"Fall is pumpkin-latte season for those who can still afford to indulge, but for Starbucks workers, it's been a season of discontent. The coffee giant has recently responded to hard times with scheduling changes that are likely to inflict misery on its employees." Read onBy Ian Welsh - March 23, 2009
"A new big business lobbying campaign against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA HR1409/S.560) threatens to eviscerate the bill. Starbucks, Whole Foods and CostCo are lobbying together to weaken the pro-labor Cardcheck Bill." Read onby Andrea James at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer - February 16, 2009
"The scene: An off-duty Starbucks barista lounges at the East Ninth Street store in Manhattan, wearing a union button. A customer, who happens to be a manager at another Starbucks store, enters to buy a drink, sees the button and asks about it." Read onby David Weigel at the Washington Independent - March 23, 2009
"A softened-up alternative to the Employee Free Choice Act, pushed by Costco, Starbucks and Whole Foods, is turning out to be something incredible: a “compromise” that neither side of the EFCA debate likes." Read onby J.D. at The Modern Left - April 14, 2009
"Much akin to Republican lawmakers and auto execs expecting union members to make large concessions in pay and benefits, now one newspaper company is doing the same." Read onDecember 2008
Judge finds Starbucks has committed over a dozen violations of the National Labor Relations Act at a New York stores.
by Liza Featherstone at AlterNet - May 21, 2007
"When you pay $4 for a cup of coffee-flavored foamy milk at Starbucks, part of what you're buying is an illusion of environmental responsibility. How they treat their workers is a different story." Read onResources
Starbucks Union
The Starbucks Workers Union is an organization of employees at the world's largest coffee chain united for a living wage, secure work hours, and respect on the job. We are part of the Industrial Workers of the World, a union for all workers.
Alternatives
Delocator
The Delocator is the opposite of an online retail store locator, common to corporate store websites. Easily find independently owned stores in your neighborhood by entering your zip code.
Green Mountain Coffee
Fair trade organic coffee.
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How Is Starbucks Like Wal-Mart When It Comes to Workers' Rights?
- Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz believes workers should “believe in their hearts that management trusted them and treated them with respect...If they had faith in me and my motives, they wouldn’t need a union.”
- Starbucks has been lobbying for an anti-labor compromise on the Employee Free Choice Act, requiring 70% of workers to sign a union authorization card to form a union instead of the 50% proposed by this legislation.
- In the past few years, Starbucks has settled five labor complaints in New York, Michigan, and Minnesota that threatened to expose their unfair labor practices.
- In 2008, the National Labor Relations Board found Starbucks maintained multiple policies which interfered with workers' right to communicate about the union and about working conditions; terminated three workers in retaliation for union activity; and repeatedly discriminated against union supporters.
- At eight Starbucks located in the Twin Cities, the National Labor Relations Board found the company engaged in unfair labor practices to thwart workers' efforts to unionize.
- Starbucks and Schultz engaged in union busting tactics at the company's Kent, Washington roasting plant in 1999, when workers wanted to unionize for regulated wages.
- At a Washington state roasting plant, Starbucks workers filed local, state, and federal charges of coercion, discrimination, health and safety violations, intimidation, and physical assault.
- Starbucks agreed to pay $85,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed in 2006 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after the company fired a Seattle barista with bipolar disorder.
- Baristas earn wages equal to and in some cases less than Wal-Mart workers at $7-$9 an hour.
- Starbucks does not guarantee set hours for workers, even those regarded as "full time."
- Starbucks' Optimal Scheduling policy forces workers to dramatically increase their own availability, which means that if baristas want to work full-time hours, they must be available 80.5 hours a week. (This prevents low-earning baristas from having the time to take a second job to support themselves.)
- Starbucks Washington managers have filed suit after being forced to work unpaid overtime.
- Starbucks provides less than 42% of its 127,000 U.S. employees with health coverage -- lower than Wal-Mart, which insures about 47% of its workers.
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