Starbucks Union

Wow Chris! You might want check up on your facts though about unions. Your statement may be just a little, well, false. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this. Start by picking up a newspaper and find out what the union at Boeing is doing right now perhaps. Outlived their usefulness? Maybe Starbucks does not need a union, but if you want anybody to take you seriously you might not want to make such ignorant statements.

chisbguy,union have been helping workers for a long time in this country. Dont use your phone,dont use the U.S. Mail,dont get sick and go to hospital,your loaf of bread may be made in a Union bakery,you might fina a union worker in these industries,professional sports have unions,police ,firemen, and teachers all have unions. 700,000 federal workers have unions. city/county/and state workers have unions. Starbucks has a union. Visit www.labornet.org

My take on this whole Starbucks workers needing a union or not needing a union is this. Starbucks workers need a union. People who do not rely on Starbucks as their primary source of income maybe not so much (although it wouldn't hurt.)

There's a lot of lies out there about unions. The worst one in my opinion is they are only necessary for third world sweatshop workers and obsolete in this country. I've never felt the need to answer this rhetoric because if I hear someone say that I assume they did not graduate the ninth grade and I ignore them.

My personal favorite is they are after your money, or the union is to the worker as the used car salesman is to the unsuspecting car shopper. Also ridiculous but I will respond with the equally false but even more incendiary claim that the Roman Catholic Church is only after your money and you really shouldn't put money in the basket.

Unions are responsible for and answer to their members (good) companies are responsible for and answer to their shareholders (also good but only if you are a shareholder with many many shares.)

I would just like to point out that everything is not up for debate and there is something out there called truth and you can either respect it and accept it or deny it and remain in the dark. I'm tired of debating whether unions are good or bad and Starbucks is good or bad because there is no debate. The union in this particular case is fighting for the will of the people, a greater good, this is FACT. Starbucks is fighting to make it easier for them to make money and do so without answering to the people and giving the people what they need to live, this is FACT. If you work at Starbucks you know there is no debate on these issues and yet some of you continue to debate.

Man, its gotta just be a sign of times or something.

Good response in support of forming a Union at Starbucks. A true voice at work is with the Union. There is no reason to debate those who know nothing about Unions or how they help workers. Organizing with the IWW Union is a viable option to what the Starbucks baristas have now. Union workers enjoy better wages and benefits than non-union workers.

Ok...so you're going to compare a union at Boeing, to Starbucks? Why don't you compare the FDNY or NYPD to Starbucks also. Common dude, a union for Starbucks would ONLY and ONLY benefit the IWW. You can't guarantee anything. Plain and simple.

Hey everyone Im an IWW member ive been with the IWW for an Year now Im Joe Agins u guys must of read about trust me My father been a union member his whole life with out having these benefits i wouldnt be were im at now! ill be in the street i know everyone has a title to oppion and that is kool and i respect it! here are some facts about IWW they dont concertrate on union dues we concertrate on the workers concerns and we work it out together and decide together! Lets all be real with ourselfs you think the goverment will give these oppions and help u on ur job? my answer is no not unless u put pressure with a group of people and fight for what u need! if there wasnt a fight there wouldnt be a struggle! thats what i beleave in! Now in starbucks i seen some hateful stuff and that is:
1:getting scored low and scolded for being a part of a union
2:wearing a religious element on ur chest for 3 years and then being scolded and have hours cut because u joined the union
3:i was fired a week before christmas because i stand up for myself and my coworkers!
here are positive stuff have happened
1:hours went up and got more tips and respect from my boss
2:knowing the fact that 2 workers were fired and now rehired with steady schedules and hours they wantted and have the right to organized without being scolded
3:and knowing the feeling that people together and fight together can bring alot of victories for what is most needed! this is all done without a buisness rep talking for us when we talked to the boss it wasnt indulvidual it was group of us and they refussed to listen to our concerns, but yet when bosses come together it's ok to fire people for wearing improper dress code or maybe if I had emergency and they didnt beleave me now all of a sudden i have no job u see people IWW is not a business union it's a union were workers can be free with a voice on a job!!!!! its based on volenteer workers and people from all around!

For 1, the IWW is the most radically pro-worker union in the world. IWW Unions are actually organized an implimented by the shop workers themselves, from the ground up. Indeed an excellent example of worker empowerment. Dues are very low in comparison to buerocratic organizations such as the afl-cio or teamsters. With those dues comes organizational training as well as unwaivering support and solidarity across the entire IWW Union (which encompasses all industries, world wide).

To suggest that a union is not needed you are alluding to several things. 1) Starbucks, being a service industry job, must be employeeing young people and college students and thus "isn't a big deal" in comparison to Boeing or a Fire/Police department. 2) Labor laws have eliminated any practical use for a union. 3) Union dues are profit motivated.

1) Starbucks, like all jobs everywhere in this nation, should be expected to provide a living wage regardless of who YOU preceive to be in their employ. You are in no position to speculate the quality of life these people have nor are you in a position to say that Starbucks should not have to care for it's employees. If someone works fulltime it should be assumed that it's their main mode of sustaining their life.

2) Labor laws, for the most part, are a matter of civil law. For instance, if you get hurt on the job YOU need to hire a lawyer and prove your case in a court of law. With Starbucks wages, this would be nearly impossible. A union works to eliminate coercion in that manner and provides a buffer between the corporation and the law. Unions also give the workers solidarity. If something unjust happens to 1 worker, all workers can take action to correct the situation internally.

3) The above benefits alone are well worth the union dues however IWW, being non-profit, dues are distributed back to the workers when the union must step in and mediate a situation. Although your shop may not be experiencing problems, the dues you're paying are going to other workers at that time. Their dues will go to you when you're in need. Furthermore to suggest that about the IWW is completely asinine and shows your absolute lack of knowledge about the organization you're criticizing.

Every worker, whether it be the single mother, privileged college student, father supporting a family, elderly person or just your average joe, benefits in all situations from having a highly motivated and organized union. IWW is well known for being a union that will fight for their people.

- In Solidarity forever

Something tells me that Chrissy is like every other know-nothing, anti-union snot-nose I've ever met. To wit:

- He's NEVER belonged to a union himself.

- He's NEVER had a family member actually in a union.

- All of his stereotypes about unions he either learned from an anti-union relative (who was never in a union) or from bloviators like Rush Limbaugh (sorry, they don't make unions for drug popping, talentless hacks and sluggards).

- Chronologically, he's under 25; emotionally, he's under 10.

Grow up, boy.

For the record, my dad's been in the Teamsters since '51, my grandfather was in the flooring union from '23 until he retired, and I have MANY uncles who were in the flooring union and several others. My family did well by unions; people who tell you otherwise are liars.

While I can't say I'm in complete agreement with your views on unions...I completely agree with the main point: Starbucks does not need a union.

First of all, whoever put this site's "facts" together should do some research...do any of you actually work for this company?

Last I checked (which was just now) starting wages are not $7.75 as these people with their own agendas would have you think. Starting wages are, in fact, $8.25. An ACTUAL FACT I'm sure you're aware of, but specifically CHOOSE to lie about. (Don't forget that most of us actually DO work for Starbucks and we know you're full of it.)

How can you complain that this company does so little for you when in all reality it does so much? We have stock plans, 401K plans, benefits for parttime employees, tuition assistance programs...the list goes on and on. It sounds to me like your real complaint is that you have to do any actual work for a living. FYI - raises at Starbucks happen every six months, and they are merit based. It sounds to me like the members of this "union" are lamenting the fact that they are mediocre workers making every attempt to take advantage of a great company. If you're all so unhappy at Starbucks, why don't you try other parttime work? Why don't you try McDonald's where you get paid minimum wage?

The fact that you people are misleading the baristas who work in your stores with your "facts" is disgusting. And you should all be ashamed of yourselves. When Howard Schultz took over this company, it's employees were unionized. And it took him and this company years to gain their trust after everything the employees had been through with the initial owners of Starbucks Coffee. But on their own, Starbucks workers recognized everything that Starbucks was doing for them, everything Starbucks was TRYING to do for them, and they decided they didn't WANT to be part of a union anymore.

This company will allow you to start as a barista working less than twenty hours a week and grow to being practically anything you could want. This company pays well above any other parttime job you could find. And you all know it, or you would just quit and find another job if you're so unhappy. But then again...what company is in the market for mediocre employees these days?

Amara,

You can go sniveling back to your corporate masters at $tarbuck$ and tell them you did a good toadying job for them. Maybe you'll even get a few extra table scraps.

Other than that, rather than starting out with something that sounds semi-honest and then rapidly devolves into pro-buck$/anti-union boilerplate crapola, maybe you can go learn something. And if you want to refer to barristas as 'mediocre employees' then go serve up your own coffee at 7-11, pinhead.