Democrats MUST stand with Labor! FIGHT STARBUCKS!

[democrat2thecore]

I put some of this in a post in another thread about Starbucks plans to outsource their coffee supply from China, but I thought it deserved its own thread and discussion. Folks, if so-called "blue" companies can be UNION-BUSTERS like this - organized labor is in SERIOUS trouble. Democrats MUST stand with labor and against STARBUCKS!

Here is a link inside the "StarbucksUnion.org" site that lists the labor violations that Starbucks has been slapped with by the National Labor Relations Board. Yes folks, THAT Starbucks. Read it and weep.
http://www.starbucksunion.org/node/712

And by the way:
"The idea that Starbucks workers are paid fairly is a myth created by the company’s public relations machine. Starbucks workers in the United States earn as little $6, $7, or $8 per hour depending on the location."

"On top of the low wage, every single barista in the United States is part-time and not guaranteed any work hours per week. For example, a Starbucks employee can get 35 hours of work one week, 22 hours the week after, and 10 hours the following week. Combine the low-wage with the fluctuating hours and you get a very bleak financial picture for Starbuck workers despite Starbucks’ $23 billion market value and rapid growth. Apparently, a net worth of over a billion dollars is not enough for Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz."
from http://www.starbucksunion.org/node/1173

Here is the actual settlement document between the NLRB and Starbucks.
They had to eat crow.
http://www.starbucksunion.org/files/usgovsettle.pdf
(.pdf document - feel free to download)

[Stargleamer]

1. Is Peets OK? Where am I to go for java? n/t

[katsy]

29. A small entrepreneur who roasts his own in CT:

http://www.daybreakcoffee.com/templates/searchnf.cfm?rowstart=1&whichord=232621&wherefrom=PICTURE&special=R&class=N&nextrow=!&prevrow=ZZZZZZ&nextprev=0&globaldesc=na&subclass=ALL&subname=na&department=COF&checkcookie=YES&uas=N&CFID=298562&CFTOKEN=526655902d979759-DE8E36D8-B0D0-F0B4-7A007D350A5E7A7B

Great coffee. Sells fair trade coffee also.

[ProudDad]

38. Peets coffee is MUCH better than Starbucks

in every way...

You might also consider supporting Thom Hartmann by buying coffee from one of his main sponsors: Sacred Grounds

http://www.sacredgroundscoffee.com/

I just got some from them. I'll be happy to report back on the quality in a week or two if you want to PM me...I'll have tried it by then...

They have Fair Trade Organic coffees available...I bought some French Roast to try out. About the same cost with shipping as buying Peets here in my local market (Tucson, AZ).

[Common Sense Party]

2. Pardon my ignorance. I've never been to a Starbucks.

Do the baristas get tips?

[Critters2]

4. There's always a tip jar on the counter. nt

[Common Sense Party]

7. That's what I guessed. So, is it possible they take in more than

$7 or $8 an hour?

[democrat2thecore]

14. Are you for the Corporation or the Worker?

The Democratic Party must make no mistake about where we stand.
Did you read the labor complaints and subsequent rulings by the NLRB against Starbucks?

[Common Sense Party]

23. CALM THE HELL DOWN, and can your melodrama.

I'm simply asking questions.

[democrat2thecore]

25. I thought my question was justified.

You made it sound like if they got tips then things can't be tooooo bad. That's not melodrama - that was wondering who the Hell side you're on when push comes to shove between the multinational corporations and the workers that make them billions. I thought it was a reasonable question.

[Common Sense Party]

48. It's called fact-checking, to get the whole story. You may want to

try it sometime.

In your original post, you copy-and-pasted:

"Starbucks workers in the United States earn as little $6, $7, or $8 per hour depending on the location."

I merely asked if they also earn tips on top of their wages. It seems that they do. So they may earn more than $6-8 an hour.

That has nothing to do with their crappy hours, their lack of health benefits, or how obscenely inflated the CEO's earnings are.

That doesn't make me on either side. My feeling has always been if you don't like a company, don't work there and don't do business with them. Eventually, they'll have to change, or they'll be gone.

Realistically, I don't expect any corporation to pay much more than $10 an hour to pour coffee. You may not like that, but that's the way the world works.

[democrat2thecore]

49. That attitude

That very conservative attitude of questioning $10 an hour to pour coffee, $30 to turn a screw, (fill-in-the-blank) completely misses the point that without that coffee being poured or that screw being turned, etc. etc. Starbucks and their ilk wouldn't make $56,000,000.00 (Starbucks last year) in profits....again.... in ONE YEAR. And no, I don't like it and neither should you if you believe that labor is as important as capital.

[krispos42]

31. My brother works there

been there for years, now he's a manager-in-training. I think a year ago he was making less than $10 an hour, but he had great benefits and got stock in the company, too. Some sort of stock-bonus plan. He can't sell them until he leaves the company, I think, but I guess he's got a fair chunk of it by now.

He knows his stuff, too. And he's a good customer to himself... :-)

Me? I drink Diet Pepsi like a fish!

[Matariki]

10. Howard Shultz HATES the idea of tips -

so while there is a tip jar on the counter, you'll notice that if you ever pay with a debit or credit card there's no line to add a tip.

I have a friend who works in a restaurant Shultz likes to bring a lot of people too. I'm told he's demanding and he NEVER tips. At all. We're talking on hundreds of dollars here. Dork.

[democrat2thecore]

11. Yet, HE'S a billionaire

[sandnsea]

13. which matters why?

We're paying for the coffee. I don't want to be subsidizing the employers labor costs with food stamps, health care, energy assistance and other social service programs. Shareholders don't need to become billionaires because we're too stupid to demand they pay THEIR OWN LABOR COSTS.

jesus when will people wake the fuck up.

[democrat2thecore]

15. Well said! -nt

[Matariki]

19. hmmm, I wonder if that's Howard Shultz's reasoning when he stiffs his waiter?

I understand your point, btw, and agree to a certain extent. But I also really hate when people are too cheap and/or selfish to tip their waiters and baristas. You're paying for more than just coffee, which you could buy at a store and make at home...

[sandnsea]

22. Oh, that was just in reference to wages

I am currently simmering at the hotels in LA that have been collecting the 20% automatic tip and

NOT PASSING IT ON TO THE WAIT STAFF!!!!

How greedy do you have to fucking be to keep your staff's tips??

:argh:

[Matariki]

34. Are you kidding!!?

That's disgusting! That's about the most disgusting thing I've heard in a while. Bastards.

[sandnsea]

36. Here's the story

All I have to say is there are a bunch of people in this country who are just lucky I am so damn broke because if I had Teresa Heinz money I'd be flying around the country and marching into board rooms and thunk thunk thunking people right in the head. Keeping people's tips, how do they live with themselves.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1749343

[Matariki]

37. "and thunk thunk thunking people right in the head"

:rofl:

I WISH you had the money Teresa Heinz had. That would be both entertaining and well spent!

[seriousstan]

3. organized labor is in SERIOUS trouble..ain't that the truth.

Truer words were never spoken.

[DaveJ]

5. Well I hated Starbucks from its inception but okay....

I know there are a lot of good hearted yuppies out there who still think Starbucks is cool, so I will be sure to mention the subject to my co-workers. There are a lot of amoral corporations out there that just plain need to go. It requires some imperative action.

[tabasco]

6. I ain't gonna pay $3 for a cup of coffee. Count me in!

Good thing there's no Starbucks within hundreds of miles.

[2rth2pwr]

8. I am interested to see what happens

Most Starbucks drinkers I know would not easily give up their daily fix. It is Starbucks or nothing.

And "nothing" is not an option.

[wtmusic]

9. How do Starbucks wages compare to other coffee vendors?

:shrug:

[DaveJ]

16. That would be hard to survey

The OP indicated Starbucks employees only make $6-$8 per hours which is pretty pathetic. In addition their hours are not guaranteed so it's fairly certain that these people are living rough lives. On the other hand I can go to the local diner on the way to work and get coffee. I have no idea what they pay, but at least the clerk can "talk" to the owner about their lives, and the owner might not just be some thug creep who clawed their way to the top of some tiny corporate stepladder. If corporations are not making any significant improvement to local conditions then they are useless.

[democrat2thecore]

21. Exactly - PLUS, the hours make health benefits almost impossible

This is from the StarbucksUnion website concerning health benefits. Apparently, Managers and Asst. managers are about the only ones with health benefits because of the Starbucks policy of utilizing MANY workers with FEW hours and attaching HOURS as the benchmark for health benefits. Read below: their percentage is worse than (ready for this?) Wal-Mart. Ugh.


-Starbucks Workers Deserve Health Care Coverage

The single greatest myth constructed by Starbucks about working for the company involves health care. But in reality Starbucks is far from being a leader in employee health care. Starbucks insures a lower percentage of its workforce than Wal-Mart a company rightly condemned for its poor health care policies. Starbucks’ 42% is not only worse than Wal-Mart’s 47%, it’s also worse than the industry average!

The barriers to health care for employees are two-fold. First, employees must work 240 hours per quarter to qualify to purchases health care through the company. Keep in mind however, that with no full-time workers and no guaranteed work hours, qualifying to purchase health care is far from assured. Second, workers must pay significant premiums, co-pays, and deductibles to participate in the health care plan. The poverty pay package makes these out-of-pocket expenses a difficult proposition indeed.

[wtmusic]

24. McDonalds employees start at $5.65/hour with no tips

and work harder. Why not start there?

[democrat2thecore]

26. It's not a matter of "starting" anywhere....the thing is

Workers fight when and where they can. Of the more than 13,000 McDonalds in the USA, not a single one is unionized. StarbucksUnion has organized and is working to rally their workers. It's not a matter of "starting" anywhere. A worker can choose to fight for a union wherever they work. They can't get fired for it either. (Though it happens all the time and few file the necessary paperwork to get their job back) Job reinstatements were part of the NLRB orders in their settlement with Starbucks. As for the $5.65 at McDonald's....the pay scale I have for retail shows them "above average" and a "yes" with full-time hours available and a "yes" with health benefits. I honestly don't know a lot more about McDonalds.

[DaveJ]

27. Who says I didn't start there?

My first posts on this thread mentioned imperative action must be taken against all of these blood sucking corporations. These behemoths operate within an inch of the law so the only way to make a difference is to change the laws that control them.

[democrat2thecore]

30. Amen, brother.

It's time workers realize that unions aren't just a thing from the past, some nostalgic thing associated with industrial jobs. Unions are needed now as much as ever - in every sector. The corporate juggernaut now has no balance in the vast majority of industries, retail, food services, on and on. The workers MUST realize that they hold the power IF they stand together.

[wtmusic]

32. Sounds more like a minimum wage/antimonopoly debate

Starbucks' wages are competitive with the industry:

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Barista/Hourly_Rate

Being a barista is a low-paying job, period. Smaller roasters pay a little more but Starbucks usually blasts them out of business by moving in right next door (happened in my hometown). If antitrust laws were enforced there would be all kinds of room for competition -- not only for customers, but employees.

[Double T]

12. No More Dark Roast Ventis for ME!!

I'll have to find another source.

[wtmusic]

33. You actually use the word "venti"?

I use "small" "medium" and "large", and let them figure it out.

[Double T]

45. I didn't think the baristas would know what 'large' meant.

[PsN2Wind]

17. The Democrats quit siding with labor,

or at least US labor, when they passed NAFTA.

[DaveJ]

20. Everyone makes mistakes

NAFTA had good intentions, but they were ruined. Int he 90's we were living the good life with Bill Clinton and wanted to share it with our close neighbors. Nobody anticipated a thug invading the White House and exporting EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE JOB overseas like they do now. It's not beneficial to revise the past, and in this case it sounds more like a Republican talking point

[democrat2thecore]

28. Remember Ross Perot's "Giant sucking sound?"

I hear what you are saying but organized labor and many others predicted exactly what would happen - and have been proved right. Remember, Ross Perot said it clear as a bell, "Hear that giant sucking sound? That's our jobs leaving America and going to Mexico if we get NAFTA."

[sandnsea]

40. If Bush had invested in energy technology

the way Clinton pushed internet technology - we might have a new industry to replace the jobs that left. I *think* that's the way Democrats envisioned it working. I think the mistake was in not getting the global labor and environmental protections IN the treaties so that corporations couldn't just create the horrors of the industrial age in other countries. I hope Democrats didn't envision that, but if they didn't, then I don't know why they haven't always been the most vocal in fighting it either. I read a story of a young Chinese girl who was a factory "runner", 16 hours a day, she ran notes and parts and tools around the factory - until she died. What are we doing? This is about so much more than just our jobs.

[democrat2thecore]

43. Wow - That's the real world. You are right, what ARE we doing? -nt

[ProudDad]

39. What?

"NAFTA had good intentions" <--- uh, how do you arrive at that?

That the Dems supported it and a Dem signed it is the sad fact, not a republican "talking point"...

Supporting NAFTA and its ilk is a republican value...

[sandnsea]

42. Clinton wanted to share our "good life"?

Oh okay. I just have to get me a cup of chocolate and sit back and hear this one.

[Romulox]

46. The democrats pick and choose *which* workers we should support

and which ones we leave to the wolves.

Apparently truckers and longshormen are members of a protected class, for instance. But manufacturing workers (that formerly made the things unloaded by the longshoremen, and then transported by the truckers,) can get fucked for all the Democrats care.

It's all about whose ox is being gored.

[democrat2thecore]

47. And whose campaign coffers are being filled -nt

[democrat2thecore]

18. Have you seen the DU thread on Starbucks/China?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2977632

[gateley]

35. I was aware of that and have already e-mailed

Starbucks to tell them I wouldn't be drinking their coffee any longer (which wasn't the entire truth because since I'm from Seattle, I'm a coffee snob, and look down my nose at Starbucks and only drink it as a last resort). Anyway, I think that a greater number of people would boycott Starbucks over the China connection than the poor employee treatment. Those Starbucks baristas are always so chipper I can see people justifying their purchases by reassuring themselves "well, they SEEM happy here". Which is a sad comment on our society, in a way.

[ComerPerro]

41. if not for labor, do it for yourself. Starbucks coffee sucks

[wtmusic]

44. To each his/her own, but

a lot of people disagree with you. Personally I love it, and Starbucks is arguably responsible for making coffee everywhere better, from so-called "coffee shops" to 7-Elevens.

What do you drink?