PO Box 31909
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-222-4711
Email: seac@seac.org
June 10, 2004
Dear members of the Starbucks Baristas Union,
The Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC), a nationwide
grassroots network of students and youth dedicated to environmental and
social justice, wishes to extend its support and congratulations to the
baristas of the Starbucks at 36th and Madison in New York City and to
all Starbucks workers wishing to exercise their legal and human right
to form a labor union.
SEAC believes that workplace democracy, economic justice, and a
safe, healthy job environment are essential prerequisites to building a
sustainable, life-affirming world. We support grassroots democratic
unions, such as the Industrial Workers of the World, that provide
workers with a voice on the job.
We recognize in particular the urgent need for major policy changes
at Starbucks. In contradiction to managementÕs rhetoric about being
socially and environmentally responsible, Starbucks record shows that
quite the opposite is true. While paying lip-service to the notion of
fair trade, Starbucks continues to buy the vast majority of their
coffee from sources that pay farm workers poverty wages, use dangerous
pesticides and genetically modified crops, and destroy critical
rainforest habitat. While addressing their employees as ÒpartnersÓ,
Starbucks pays grossly inadequate wages, exposes workers to health and
safety hazards, and denies workers a voice in decisions that affect
them.
SEAC recognizes the importance of building alliances between
environmental and labor organizations. We stand in solidarity with
Starbucks workers against these destructive labor and environmental
policies enforced and condoned by Starbucks management, and we are
determined not to let union-busting be added to the list of StarbucksÕ
crimes. SEAC calls on Starbucks management to negotiate with its
employees in good faith, obey all labor laws and mmediately cease all
attempts to influence or obstruct a free and uninhibited National Labor
Relations Board election. We will be watching.
Starbucks baristas, stand up and be counted! The hour of justice is at hand!
In Solidarity,
The Student Environmental Action Coalition