Kati Moore Inspires Starbucks District Managers to Expose High-Level Sexual Harassment

Submitted by SWU on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 9:44am.

UPDATE: Following our disclosure of the District Managers' letter, Starbucks has been forced to address the issue publicly for the first time. Contrary to its claim, it appears that the company is in fact not taking the complaints from the DMs seriously. Here is Starbucks' short statement:

"Starbucks takes any accusations such as these very seriously. When we were made aware of these claims, we immediately began a thorough internal investigation as per our standard practice. We have found the claims to be without merit."

For Immediate Release:
IWW Starbucks Workers Union

February 11, 2010

Howard Schultz Still Silent Amid Growing Evidence of a Hostile Work Environment

New York, NY- In a risky departure from the normal chain of command, a group of Starbucks district managers have authored an impassioned letter to top executives in Seattle demanding that action be taken against a company vice president allegedly engaged in pervasive sexual harassment.

The letter, which was made available to the IWW Starbucks Workers Union, alleges that Regional Vice President Andrew Alfano has created an unsafe work environment with his behavior and is responsible for the departure of two female regional directors, among many other troubling charges.

The district managers are demanding disciplinary action against Mr. Alfano, a favorite of top company brass, and state that they were compelled to act after a widely-watched 20/20 segment aired on Starbucks barista Kati Moore who was repeatedly raped by her supervisor and then subjected to intimidation tactics from Starbucks' lawyers.

The SWU has made the letter available on its website.

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