For Immediate Release:
IWW Starbucks Workers Union
March 19, 2008
Starbucks Shareholders Will Be Greeted with Leaflets
Calling on the Company to Raise Pay
Seattle, WA- As shareholders arrive at the Starbucks
Annual Meeting today, members of the IWW Starbucks
Workers Union and their supporters will greet them
with leaflets highlighting the economic hardships
faced by workers at the company and offering the
workers' perspective on how to fix the recent plunge
in its stock price.
"Maintaining a long-term, well-paid workforce is the
key to lasting success at Starbucks," said Lucas
Carter, a member of the IWW in Seattle. "If workers
don't get enough work hours every week and they are
struggling to pay the bills, how can management expect
them to serve coffee with a smile?"
The union argues that the decline in recent years of
the value of Starbucks stock, and of the brand in
general, stems from its inability to maintain a highly
trained workforce through equitable financial
compensation and proper working conditions. For
example, to save on labor costs, Starbucks degraded
all if its Barista jobs to part-time, low-wage
positions. All non-salaried café workers are
mandatory part-time employees, meaning that none
receive any guaranteed number of work hours per week.
Many Baristas at the company also receive a poverty
wage, starting at little above the minimum wage in
some markets.
Reliable access to health care is also a problem that
many employees at Starbucks wrestle with. Workers
must maintain a quarterly average of 20+ hours per
week to be able to qualify to purchase the company's
health care package. According to the company's own
figures, Starbucks insures less than 41% of its total
workforce including managers, meaning the numbers for
Baristas and Shift Supervisors is far lower – by
contrast Wal-Mart insures approximately 47%.
Starbucks also shares Wal-Mart's animosity towards
labor unions.
"There is no doubt in my mind that Starbucks is an
anti-union employer," said David Ruan, a New York City
native and employee at a Starbucks store in
Manhattan's East Village. "After we started
organizing at my store, high level company officials
would always be 'visiting' to check up on the workers.
My old manager would talk to my coworkers in
one-on-one meetings and tell them not to join the
union. Any time we posted union material on the
employee bulletin board, they would tear it down -
they even fired my best friend Joe!"
Mr. Ruan is referring to one of the terminations
currently being examined by a Labor Board judge after
a lengthy trail. The Board has alleged Starbucks to
have committed over 30 critical federal labor law
violations at several of its stores in NYC. These
violations include discriminatory policy enforcement,
interrogation and threats of suspension to union
supporters, and the unlawful termination of IWW
members at Starbucks.
The IWW Starbucks Workers Union is a grassroots
organization of employees at the world's largest
coffee chain united for secure work hours and a living
wage. The union has members throughout the United
States fighting for systemic change at the company and
remedying individual grievances with management.
IWW baristas have fought successfully for improved
scheduling and staffing levels, increased wages, and
workplace safety. Workers who join the union have
immediate access to co-workers and members of the
community who will struggle with them for a better
life on the job.
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