Starbucks Union

Sisters and Brothers,

Going back to 2004 and continuing to the present, you and your labor unions around the world have risen up in solidarity with IWW baristas at Starbucks and against union-busting by the company. Your support and identification with the grassroots struggle of workers at the world's largest coffee chain was instrumental in yesterday's court victory. This is YOUR victory, a victory for all working people. As corporate dominance continues to crumble from Greece to Chicago to Ecuador, please stay with us as we move toward ultimate justice against Starbucks.

The New York Times article on the court victory is here:

December 24, 2008

Starbucks Loses Round in Battle Over Union

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE, New York Times

A National Labor Relations Board judge ruled on Tuesday that Starbucks had illegally fired three baristas and otherwise violated federal labor laws in seeking to beat back unionization efforts at several of its Manhattan cafes.

The administrative law judge, Mindy E. Landow, found that Starbucks had also broken the law by issuing negative job evaluations to union supporters and prohibiting employees from discussing the union even though the employees were allowed to discuss other subjects not related to work.

Liberte Locke, a Starbucks barista and member of the Industrial Workers of the World, discusses the negative impact of "Optimal Scheduling" on workers. She encourages baristas to gain respect for their hard work with the IWW Starbucks Workers Union:

Watch Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7jLmCetMKI

Dear SWU Activists,

Please take just a moment to participate in the e-mail action included below by going to http://www.starbucksunion.org/node/1948. Starbucks deceives people around the world through the Fortune Magazine '100 Best Companies to Work For' list and this has to stop. Thank you for your commitment to speaking truth for working families.

Andrew Serwer
Managing Editor
Fortune Magazine
1 Time Warner Center
New York, NY 10019

January 28, 2008

Dear Mr. Serwer,

I take serious issue with the erroneous information regarding Starbucks in Fortune Magazine's 2008 '100 Best Companies to Work For'. I am especially concerned about the reliability of Fortune given that the IWW Starbucks Workers Union wrote you an open letter before the 2007 '100 Best Companies to Work For' feature that pointed out the very same misinformation which you proceeded to include once again in the 2008 list.

The 2008 'Best Companies to Work For' list claims that the most common hourly job at Starbucks is a mysterious position called "Coordinator III" which takes in $37,390 per year. Once again, the most common hourly job at Starbucks, by far, is a position called "Barista" which likely takes in approximately $12,000 per year on average. The precise average pay for baristas is not known since Starbucks refuses to make that information public.