Starbucks settles sixth complaint (in 3 years) of violating worker rights

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Workdayminnesota

MINNEAPOLIS - The Starbucks Coffee Co. settled a complaint Monday from the National Labor Relations Board over charges of violating workers’ rights – the sixth such settlement in three years, the Starbucks Workers Union reported.

The settlement comes as a new website, StopStarbucks.com, and viral video call on CEO Howard Schultz to respect workers’ right to join a labor union. The new media initiative, from Robert Greenwald’s “Brave New Films”, has already been viewed over 60,000 times with a related petition garnering almost 15,000 signatures.

“This settlement proves that Starbucks executives are not above the law and cannot block hard working baristas from making positive change,” said Angel Gardner, a barista and member of the Starbucks Workers Union in the Twin Cities. “How can Starbucks claim that it maintains a positive work environment when one labor case after another exposes its lack of respect for employees?”

Pursuant to the settlement, which stems from charges filed by the IWW Starbucks Workers Union, the corporation must cease engaging in a slew of illegal measures including threatening to call security to interfere with protected activity, prohibiting workers from discussing the union, and expelling union sympathizers from company stores. Monday’s settlement is the first since a Labor Board judge found Starbucks guilty last December of similar rights violations in the first-ever trial between baristas and the coffee chain.

Read more: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_4063

---

Full story at link & For more information Visit www.StarbucksUnion.org

[solstice]

1. I've always considered Starbucks coffee swill.

[pleah]

2. K&R I have always been amazed that people so willingly pay for over priced coffee.

:crazy:

[Captain Hilts]

3. It's a passport to sitting out somewhere other than home. Not a bad price,

if you just get 'coffee' rather than something frou-frou.

I can't stand their coffee, actually.

[mojowork_n]

6. Over-priced is what it's called by non-coffee drinkers

Coffee tastes better when it's fresh. You never get stale coffee at Starbucks. It's always freshly ground. If it goes unsold an hour (or 45 minutes? I can't remember) after it's brewed, they throw it out. It's not doing anyone a service to compare what they do at Starbucks with the kind of coffee that ships in 55 gallon industrial drums, and gets brewed up at gas stations, or in office "coffee systems." Blecchhh.

Which isn't to say anything about the company's policy towards workers unionizing, but they wouldn't be popular if they didn't have a decent product.

[pleah]

8. I make my own.n/t

[KansDem]

11. My sister gave me a little coffee grinder several years ago...

I buy bulk beans from Whole Foods and grind it fresh every morning. Tastes primo!

The grinding noise is also a "wake-up" call for my wife, who always seems arrive in the kitchen just as I'm pouring my first cup!

[ohio2007]

20. Grind some of the better Folgers blends in it. , Chocolate truffle and Carmel drizzle rock the Cafe

The fresh aroma from an empty coffe cup of those select blends left in your car will stay there ALL DAY ! lol
And I recomend the Hawaiian grown "Kona" make it a bit on the strong side ;)

We buy whole beans and never grind more then a three day ration.

[northzax]

13. twenty minutes, actually

well, technically, 26, but it takes 6 minutes to brew. Espresso is, of course, ground to order.

is it as good as the stuff you can make at home with the right beans and equipment? of course not. but then, it's not much more expensive. the coffee I use at home costs around 18 bucks a pound. I get 6 french presses, about 24 oz each, per pound. that is the equivalent of two 'tall' coffees at starbucks. so you get 18 cups of coffee for 18 bucks. each one costs you $1.65 plus tax in the store.

people really forget how awful coffee was assumed to be in the US before Starbucks made it a better product. it used to be that the best place you got coffee was McDonald's, at least you knew it was consistent and drinkable. outside of major cities (And even inside them) coffee was awful. you ever had greasy spoon coffee? that was the GOOD stuff. if you were really lucky you got something like fresh Denny's or IHOP coffee. espresso was unheard of outside maybe some italian enclaves or ultra fancy restaurants. growing up in Toledo, we used to order our coffee from Peet's in Berkeley because drinkable coffee was unavailable in Toledo in the 80s.

oh, and I should mention that I am an employee of Starbucks, if that wasn't obvious enough. I work 22 hours a week because my other job, my non-profit vocation, can't afford to give me health insurance. Starbucks does. insurance, 401K, the works. as a 22 hour a week guy. does your company do that?

[Omaha Steve]

16. Starbucks no longer contributes to your 401 k

Without a union, there is no negotiation on what they can do, they just do it.


http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/retail/starbucks-match-contributions-ks-year/

Starbucks May not Match Contributions to 401(k)s Next Year

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

NEW YORK--Starbucks Corp (SBUX: 14.82, 0, 0%). told employees it may not be able to match their contributions to 401(k) retirement accounts next year in order to keep costs down.

The gourmet coffee chain said it will switch from matching contributions at a fixed rate and will instead decide whether or not to match an employee's contributions.

The Seattle-based company currently matches between 25% and 150% of the first 4% of workers' pay. The percentage depends on how long an employee has worked at the company.

Starbucks said it if does make a match next year, it may be at a different percentage than in 2008.

"This highly challenging environment requires us to become even more disciplined with how we manage costs across our entire organization," Starbucks said in a statement. "This includes looking closely at the benefits programs we make available to our partners."

FULL story at link.

[northzax]

17. Well, they did it first quarter.

[joeglow3]

27. Ummm, tons of companies are doing this

It tends to happen when times suck.

[bitchkitty]

32. I live for my morning latte.

I bought my own machine to save money, but if I had to, I would pay the price for that delicious addiction of mine...

[Infinite Hope]

4. Unionize? Starbucks is one of the most generous employers. Employees working over 20 hours even...

get health benefits. They also get reasonable and livable wages. It's a retail/service...they shouldn't expect to make bank.

[galledgoblin]

7. yeah, but a union will keep things that way

provided the workers are reasonable, it doesn't hurt to give them some teeth, especially with such a big company.

[Omaha Steve]

9. Why does Wal-mart have a higher percentage of workers with benifits then? Look it up

Wal-mart is below the 50% mark btw. Starbucks talks blue. It is another thing to really be blue. Perhaps when they cut the 401k's while buying another jet gives you something to think about.

[Infinite Hope]

15. Because often Starbucks employees are students or spouses and get their insurance elsewhere...

Percentage of employees covered tells nothing of the generosity in terms of benefits offered. It tells you how many choose to accept. They hire different demographics. Wal-Mart, in contrast to the Starbucks demographic I described, often employs those near the poverty line with families and need benefits.

[Omaha Steve]

18. So Starbucks is ending contributions to the 401 K because workers don't need it?

They bought another nice upper management jet instead.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

10. as the wife of someone who worked for starbucks for almost 20

years, you are completely ignorant, unbelievably wrong, and you really really DO NOT KNOW what you are talking about. Starbucks likes the rep that they are progressive, but they are anything but. They are not a good, fair decent company.

[WriteDown]

12. If they're so bad...

Why on Earth did your husband work for them for TWENTY years? Seems like he was only contributing to a bad enterprise then.

[Infinite Hope]

14. Exactly. I've had friends and relatives work there so I know something about it too.

Sounds like the person before you has an ax to grind.

[greengestalt]

5. Go union!

If America expects to be prosperous again, everybody needs to be able to get a job that pays the bills. The only difficult thing should be to be rich, and grossly excessive wealth should be banned. The ultra rich are taking and taking and taking and that is why we are getting poorer and poorer.

[ohio2007]

19. Starbucks is overpriced and a waste of $.

The drive through at MacDonald's does a better job without the tip jar to place the "change" from your $10 bill

[Honeycombe8]

21. I don't know why Starbucks employees would want to join a union.

My understanding is that Starbucks has a policy of hiring people laid off from other jobs, including middle aged workers (who have a really hard time finding new jobs after a layoff), don't have their workers work unreasonably long hours, provides health insurance. ???? Where's the beef?

[Omaha Steve]

22. This post is about Starbucks breaking US Labor laws

The US has the weakest labor laws of all the industrialized nations. Starbucks is in court now in N.Y. for the same thing. Union Busting.

Starbucks is charged in 3 states that I know of for making counter help share tips with management. Try reading the Starbucks union site to get the idea.


So it is ok to break laws if YOU think those laws aren't needed?

[Freddie Stubbs]

23. A California court just ruled on the tips issue:

Court reverses ruling on Starbucks tip lawsuit

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN DIEGO -- A California appeals court reversed a ruling that ordered Starbucks Corp. to pay millions in restitution to baristas who had to share their tips with shift supervisors.

The 4th District Court of Appeal in San Diego ruled Tuesday that supervisors "essentially perform the same job as baristas," so they should get their fair share of collective tip jars.

In 2004, former barista Jou Chau filed a class-action lawsuit against the Seattle-based coffee giant on behalf of more than 100,000 current and former baristas in California.

San Diego County Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett ruled in their favor last year and awarded $86 million in restitution plus about $20 million in interest.

more: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_us_starbucks_tipping_suit.html

[Honeycombe8]

24. Of course that's not okay. And they have not been found guilty of that so far, according

to your post. (I work for a law firm; settling just means that it's cheaper to settle now than to pay to go through a full blown lawsuit. Litigation is VERY expensive, even if you win.)

I notice that your post didn't answer my question, though. Why would Starbucks workers want a union, since it seems to be a good company that treats its employees well and deals with them in good faith. Not too many companies hire those who other companies won't hire. Not too many soda jerk businesses provide insurance to its employees.

As far as the sharing of tips...that doesn't seem like a big deal to me. That has been going on since time in memoriam. The answer has always been to get a soda jerk job in another soda jerk place.

I'm in favor of unions, but it seems to me that their greed is getting out of control. Unions came into existence because of the mistreatment of workers by companies, such as no safety equipment so that workers' hands were chopped off (business just hires another worker; worker becomes disabled and unemployed for life; no compensation); required 15 hour work days without breaks; 12 hour workdays for children; being imprisoned in the factory and not let out until shift ends; extremely low pay; being required to buy all supplies at exorbitant prices at stores owned by the companies; no health care.

Unions did not come into existence so that workers could squeeze fair companies out of however much they can. That's calleld greed.

[Omaha Steve]

25. Not guilty several times after a finding by an administrative law judge

I did answer the question. Eliminating the company's contribution to the 401k is a start. The fact employees are trying to get a union should be obvious enough.

And most union contracts don't allow managers to do the work of craft employees.

But since the court found managers do the same work, shouldn't everybody get managers pay?

No it is not that easy. But Starbucks is bringing in $ even though the stock is flat lined. How many socially conscious mutual funds own Starbucks?

As we heard from another DUer, Starbucks isn't the blue it says it is. Saying employees don't need a health plan when they hire those that can't get jobs elsewhere is to me, a little off base.

You don't see them pushing fair trade products either. Ask for a cup in the store. We only sell it by the pound.

BTW, Starbucks now has union shops in Mn. :-)

[northzax]

26. fair trade now?

10% of all the fair trade coffee in the US is sold by starbucks. not enough, obviously, but they are the single largest purchaser or Fair Trade certified (by Transfair and FLO) coffee in the world, by a country mile.

as for available by the cup? your local starbucks sells Pike Place Roast by the cup every minute of every day. this particular coffee meets fair trade requirements set up by Conservation International (obviously a right-wing front group) part of the problem with the Fair Trade certification is that it is only available in small lots, from small farmers (which is perfectly fine) but it is not possible to scale it. you literally cannot, under any circumstances, buy enough coffee for daily use at starbucks from Fair Trade certified providers, it literally cannot be done at this juncture (of course, the fact that Starbucks is now the largest corporate contributor to the Fair Trade Certified program seems to slip your mind as well. or is TransfairUSA also corrupt?) under the TransFair USA and FLO guidelines, only small coffee cooperatives can qualify for Fair Trade Certification. they simply cannot produce enough coffee to meet Starbucks' daily demand, which is why it is sold by the pound.

Seriously, you want to talk coffee? we can talk coffee. but if you really want to complain, do so about a company that isn't literally at the forefront of the Fair Trade movement in coffee.

and no, this isn't me being an apologist, this data is directly from Transfair USA.

[robcon]

28. Only six complaints means Starbucks is a good place to work, IMO

I work for a retailer and we get far more complaints. Most are settled out of court.

[Omaha Steve]

29. NLRB complaints?

Just curious.

[robcon]

30. Plenty of complaints are brought to the NLRB.

A friend of mine was promoted to department head, then fired before she could serve in that capacity. A judicial ruling came down during her (excellent) service for the company that didn't come up when she was hired. They did a background check at the time of her promotion, and the ruling from an old case came up (shoplifting plea???? - she never told us.) She was fired instead of promoted.

She was able to get the company to change its policy (no background checks, except when first hired, unless there is cause to believe something happened.) She went to the NLRB, and also got a cash settlement out of court.

[Omaha Steve]

31. Thats not an NLRB charge

The NLRB handles union issues only. I believe you are referring to civil court on this issue.