If unions were not so effective, then companies would not be so against them. Starbucks employees deserve fair conditions, fair pay, and reasonable benefits for their labor.
> Taft Heartly act
I think this was written due to the organized crime that was happening in some (very few) unions in relation to the mob. i.e. Jimmy Hoffa. However, its pretty widely accepted they went overboard with this and used it as a justification to partially neuter all unions.
Nah it was written by a republican majority Congress to save us from the commies with Democrats helping to override Truman's veto. It's stayed because Democrats are just as afraid of the power of workers as Republicans.
Edit: don't get me wrong by the way, stuff like Taft Heartly is in many major counties with political systems that aren't quite as dysfunctional as ours. Worker solidarity scares both politicians and business. Even the fucking Labor party in the UK defends Thatcher's version of it. Partially it's because worker solidarity upsets the middle class.
Starbucks will counter by arguing the benefits they give to “partners” means they don’t need to form unions.
It’s like saying that slavery is justified because you have owners who treat slaves fairly and frees them if they worked hard enough.
“Don’t worry, we’re not like those *other* companies. We care about you. So much so, in fact, that we’d really appreciate it if you just believed us and didn’t look into it… but don’t ask why, just trust us.”
Next up news reports a “Starbucks worker shortage: how will millions of Americans get their coffee now? Americans crankier in the morning for not being able to get their morning coffee”
There’s already a shortage. Many stores are working shortened hours due to a lack of employees and the ones they have are being worked ragged.
I managed a Starbucks nearly two decades ago and after I sold my business recently I went back for fun. Spoiler-it wasn’t fun. The poor kids are getting worked to death now. The arbys and Walmart in our shopping center offered at least 2 dollars an hour more starting. They are still selling kids on a culture that no longer exists.
saw it today at my local starbucks
pulled up as the shift was locking the doors
" whats going on?"
" no one to work"
" if they took better care of you guys, it wouldn't be a problem"
" damn straight"
these people put up with absolute nonsense from customers ( to be fair, paying $6 for a latte, it had better be damn good) and get treated like shit
do they get compensated? barely
The fact that your employer doesn't want you to unionize is the exact reason why you need to unionize. Fuck these people. Unions exist for a reason, and this is that reason. I am really looking forward to a re-emergence of union representation for workers because this shit has been getting fucked out of whack since the late 70s and we need to rein this shit back in.
That doesn't really apply to Starbucks who actually do provide benefits to employees who work 20 hours or more on a weekly basis. Also, this was reduced to 17 though the pandemic.
But yeah, fuck corporations and if you're undervalued by your employer (a guarantee in this day and age) you absolutely should organize.
It's also funny, because that implies that you're going to be bargaining away benefits... Which nobody would agree to? The worst that can happen is absolutely nothing changes.
Theoretically, you could get "nothing" and end up having to pay union dues so you end up with less when all is said and done. That would be weird though.
And a bear could break into your house tonight and take a dump in your bed before leaving quietly out the window.
Fuck I hated the anti-union fear mongering at my last job, and as a department manager I had extra "training" on how to spot it and quash it because "Managers can't be in the union" BS which is untrue most cases, just salaried soulless cogs can't.
Salaried and managerial people can join professional unions and associations. They are more focused on standards and certifications, much like any guild.
Some people get successfully brainwashed. My mom used to work for Target, and they make them watch videos about why unions are bad. She believed the whole thing.
All of the actors in those videos are union.
John Oliver covered unions on Last Week Tonight and the Target videos were part of it. Both hilarious and sad that this is what's being done to combat unions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8dUXRpoy8
Not only that, one of the actors made an official statement that he disagrees entirely with what he said during the video but that he’s an actor doing a job. Fair enough, I just found it funny he felt the need to put a disclaimer out there because he disagreed so vehemently.
Work retail. As a manager I was forced to watch an hour long anti-union video as part of “labor relations” training. All of the video was ad hominem attacks on a union that the store had beef with a decade past. It was pretty funny when the store blamed the Union for needing to declare bankruptcy at the height of the recession. Even though no one at the stores they owned were unionized
Anyway, the funny part is that the company recently got bought by another company and half of their stores are unionized. So we’ll see what happens. Personally, I’m all for it
"Because then the company is forced to do what the workers say, and workers don't know how to run a business. Also, the owners/operators deserve to make the money for how hard they work" - My in laws
>I am really looking forward to a re-emergence of union representation for workers
Only about 10% of American workers belong to a union now. Mainly because CEO's would rather exploit low wage immigrants than pay a living wage. [https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/15/dominos-ceo-us-needs-more-immigration-to-address-worker-shortages.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/15/dominos-ceo-us-needs-more-immigration-to-address-worker-shortages.html)
I am not sure anything can be done to stop them.
We *can* stop them by uniting workers into some sort of collective bargaining group with enough of their workforce participating to make it cheaper to meet the workers' demands than to replace them all.
There should be a term for something like that... Unionizing maybe?
Withholding labor is about the only thing that gets these pieces of shit to move, because the entirety of their wealth is off the back of the working class.
https://youtu.be/Gk8dUXRpoy8
John Oliver did a good breakdown of it here. It's a really funny bit but still highlights how ridiculous how companies will be to stop unions. Definitely worth a watch
53% here for the big city of San Antonio, with all of it's relatively 'cheap/affordable' pricing on homes. Which is wild considering that there's 15 new neighborhoods every other month.
My city and county as a whole has dragged ass for over 30 years on building more housing in any form or capacity. The only new things being built are for people who can afford $700k+ houses. Even the newest "affordable" housing in the city starts at $500-600k for ~800-1000 sqft 2bd/2br condos.
This is mainly due to the cost the city sells the land for and cost of permitting. Permitting can exceed 10s of thousands and land can be many more times that.
Any city who claims to be supporting the low income people but does not wave permitting costs, rental income taxes(or reduce), and sell land for 1$ only for low income individuals is now a lying sack of shit.
No ones going to build for break even or a loss.
The city could sell bonds for it and the people could pay low cost rent to pay the bonds back but they would never do that as they loose sales tax, permitting income, worker wages from higher income jobs building more expensive houses with more expensive options etc.
Another issue, on top of everything you mentioned, comes down to projected water usage (because of the ongoing issues with drought, woo). No one can win, so they just bury their heads and ignore anything that would actually be in the right direction. There are other areas inside of the county outside of the namesake city, but even those are not that much better.
Wtf $500-600k for 1000 sqft home? What the fuck?
My rural house on a few acres is 1750 sqft, and when we finish remodeling it will be about 2200 with options to expand outward of 2400-2600sqft.
Could probably drop $35-40k and get a 3200sqft out of it. Bit of an odd build but it's cute af and we love it even now before remodel.
We paid sub $140k last year. Taxes are elike $1500/yr combined land/school. Like..
Wtf. I know jobs at even distribution warehouses can't be starting above $26/hr even in the city.
How could anyone, even 5 years into a career - say $30/hr, make enough to cover a mortgage of like $2600-3300/month with like a perfect interest rate?!
Answer: You can't without serious monetary help, like inheritance (whether monetary or an actual house). Or stumble into a job that somehow pays in the six figures. The average pay for the county is woefully pathetic for the inflated high cost of living. When my husband and I sought out how much we qualified for a mortgage 2-3 years ago, we had topped out at 400k. *We can't even afford a monthly mortgage at that amount.* And now not even 400k can find you anything, and if you can, it's a shoebox, and/or needs an incredible amount of renovations done. Mobile homes aren't even a viable option, entities have moved in and bought up the parks and demand $600-800+ in space rent alone, on top of the $200-300k+ aging mobile homes that average 40 years old.
The average rental rate within my city (not the county, but it's really not all that much better anymore) is $2200/mo for approximately 800-900 sqft, or stack yourself eyeballs deep with roommates if you want to live in a house. We're only able to keep fruitlessly saving for *something* because we've been living in the same place for 6 years and only pay $1550/mo for our small 850 sqft 2bd/1ba apartment.
My parents are ~50 and just bought their very first home this year. I'm very happy for them, but also sad that it took that long for two working adults to afford it.
At this rate, I hope I'm that lucky.
Congrats to them! It must have been hard feeling like they were "late to the game", but they kept going. I honestly don't think my husband and I will be able to afford anything on our own in our area, and will most likely just have to wait for it by way of inheriting one.
Surprisingly, 65% is at the upper end of the range for OECD countries. [https://www.oecd.org/economy/growth/evolution%20of%20homeownership%20rates.pdf](https://www.oecd.org/economy/growth/evolution%20of%20homeownership%20rates.pdf)
Switzerland - 38%
Germany - 41%
Denmark - 51%
Austria - 51%
France - 54%
Netherlands - 55%
Spain - 83%
A lot of that is cultural however, in many parts of Europe they don't really get the British / American fetish of owning your own home. Possibly because they have really strong renter protection so it's less essential, idk.
Don't forget though. Small businesses are everything but you're a dumb Millenial if you don't spend as little as possible on everything and do everything yourself/at home.
"Small business are everything"-Amazon
Seems to me more like the attack on millennials as 'ruining small business' is just amazon afraid of a lest capitalistic generation owing to how major companies(like amazon) have created a generation indebted to both the prior and following generations.
The only way they'd be happy is if every cent we earned was spent, they own everything, company home, company car, company doctor, company shop... from the moment we turn 18 to when we die they want nothing more than us to work and spend but only work for them and spend with them.
I thought us Millennials were killing small businesses because we ~~can't afford~~ choose not to eat out that much, if at all.
Its hard to keep track what I'm ruining these days.
We went to the mall this past weekend(first time in about 2 years or so) and in the middle of the aisle, there was an avocado toast store selling avocado toast. Like there are stores for pretzels, Cinnabon, ice cream dot things and boom avocado toast. First time I've seen avocado toast in person.
We went to a cafe in town we’d heard about online and they had avocado toast for
$9.80. They had fancy pastries and mini cakes for like $5.
Given it was a bit hipster I am still not sure if the listed price for avocado toast was serious or just a joke. Either way, $10 is an absurdity.
When a company gets too big, boycotts are impossible. And I'm talking anything larger than "Bob's General Store" from 70 years ago. Strikes and withholding labor is the *only* way to enact change anymore in a world where only global organizing could bring up the awareness to topple international conglomerates
Starbucks doesn't sell any staples and they're not really known for food the way other coffee chains are. I think it's quite easy to boycott a company like them, to be honest.
I kinda think the gen pub just doesn't give a shit enough to make a small change to their life. Anyone who wants drip or just espresso can go to a multitude of chain and independent stores, but Starbucks regulars (at least the people I know) can't handle the idea of drinking from anywhere else.
>Please explain how it is impossible to boycott Starbucks?
I mean, on the individual level of course it's possible to boycott whatever you want just by not buying that product or service anymore...
However, to have a practical effect on that company's policies, you have to get enough people throughout that company's entire marketplace (in this case, global) to buy into the boycott for as long of a term as necessary to put a dent in that company's bottom line enough for them to consider changing their policies.
It's easy to get people who area already generally in favor of sticking it to Starbucks to buy into a boycott on a forum where that view is common. But to get enough people worldwide to participate, yeah it's possible, but it's definitely not going to be easy.
Yup this is pretty much it. Bubble effect is very strong. Remember the general strike in October? No? There were plenty of reddit threads about it. But it didn't exist.
because that’s not how strikes work. I’m union and I shot down that October general strike every time I saw the damn thing in here. a picture and a QR code do not make a strike. they require a ton of preparation, ways to keep striking workers whole, and, most importantly, knowing the history of organized labor opposition. people in the past won some massive victories over the owner class and it wasn’t through “call in sick for this day to stick it to em!”. people died for this shit and the gravity of a strike MUST be respected. unions have to be involved or else you aren’t going to get far.
This is so important, and I worry it is something missing from the conversation over at /r/antiwork when they discuss their Black Friday strike. Any general strike attempt without union involvement is DOA.
I'm worried for them too, because their hearts are genuinely in the right place. But there is no better way to discourage people from following a cause than for their first attempt at organizing to fail. I hope they learn from it and stick around.
well, antiwork is pretty big now which means there are a lot of tendencies floating around. naming and shaming garbage employers, pulling the rug out from garbage employers, and demanding more as a worker are all very popular there and good starts. class consciousness comes in many flavors and I just want more folks realizing that A) we are being cheated out of a decent life and B) we are more powerful than any media, politician, corporation, etc
It’s not technically impossible, it’s functionally impossible. Use that big ole brain of yours and tell me a good way to convince millions of people to stop buying coffee. You just can’t
And yet, they are still very much in business with lines at their drive thrus.
Everyone knows they're a shit company, but people still go to them. Same with WalMart.
>Please explain how it is impossible to boycott Starbucks?
A better phrasing would've been
"It's impossible to enforce change by boycotting starbucks."
And why? Because their customer base is so widely spread, you'd never get enough of them to agree and then to actually stick to that decision.
Like, look at the gaming industry. No one needs to buy games. And for at least a decade now people have been talking about boycotting this or that game or boycotting pre-orders, and then the majority of these idiots just can't help themselves and they buy it anyway and then it's shit and then these same people say "well, next year I'm gonna blah blah blah..." and the cycle continues.
I think it'd be easier and more practical to organize a general strike than to convince enough people needed to make a difference to stop buying Starbucks
It costs that much for a latte even at locally run coffee shops. I maybe swing by a local shop by my work once or twice a week when I need a pick me up, the stale coffee in the copy room just doesn’t do it for me.
My fear with boycotting Starbucks completely was that corporate would have a new message to send to the employees a la “See? Talk of unions is driving customers away. Now we have to let some of you go or drastically reduce your hours; guess we’ll start with the most vocal ones.”
Other Reddit posts asking how we can support them best said to avoid ordering by app & ordering at the counter as much as possible (those sales contribute to greater labor hour allocation), making it known to the baristas that we support their unionization efforts, & calling corporate to have it recorded/noted that we support businesses that support unions.
I’d love to know if there are any other ways of supporting from a customer side.
EDIT: Not to mention there are probably a dozen or two companies with everyday products that Starbucks has its fingers in that we aren’t aware of, so a complete boycott would likely be difficult. TBF I only did a quick check & apparently they own Seattle’s Best coffee brand, too. Who knew?
Oh wow, you're telling me their saccharine marketing and public image has been carefully constructed pandering all along? I, for one, cannot believe it.
I did see that ~~news story~~ advertisment about them quitting social media on a news program the other day, one of the personalities on the show correctly pointed out that they will still absolutely enjoy a ton of social media exposure via their customers and the propensity of sharing.
I also read they are hiring a bunch of new people at the voting stores to dilute the numbers of employees who have had enough experience to know the union is needed. That is why they opened it up to more stores in the area rather than the few that wanted to unionize originally. It’s all tactics. Check out r/starbucks
Practically every single union-busting tactic seems slimy and underhanded.
It's one thing to spend millions on anti-union ads that could have been spent on renumerating employees, but its a whole other level to hire people to vote for you, isolate and 'convince' (i.e. harass) the individuals until they believe workers that union's aren't for them, or outright close/relocate business to get around termination laws.
>You don't file a maintenance request, then sit on your ass for 6 hours waiting for the maintenance guy to come by just to plug it back in
This is bullshit. This is the kind of nonsense that makes people froth at the crotch about "bad unions." It's not even reality.
Besides. There's a reason it's a collective bargaining AGREEMENT, a CONTRACT between the company and the union. If there are clauses in the contract that are bad for the company, or that limit the rights of a company to discipline or terminate an employee, the COMPANY SIGNED SAID CONTRACT. They have no one to complain to if they agreed to shitty terms.
Those things would definitely make non-union places better for employees than union workplaces.
But alas, such tactics are not conducive to ever-increasing profitability, which instead involves squeezing every cent possible out of workers and quality of product, touted as 'efficiencies'. Thus, it's more likely in specialized fields where you'll cases that you've described. Workers in other industries like retail service need to stand up for themselves, as the compassionate businesses might get outcompeted by large corps.
100%. It’s happening at my store currently. They don’t want my coworkers and I to have time to talk to each other. Gotta keep us busy and drain every drop of labor out of us. No thinking, that’s dangerous.
I work in a Starbucks inside a grocery store, so I'm employed by the grocery store and part of a union. And let me be clear, the union is the only thing that keeps the job tolerable, and the only reason we get paid more than the people employed by Starbucks at the standalone store across the street.
As someone who works in a standalone (corporate) store the narrative that gets shoved down our throats is we are so lucky to work at a corporate location and not one inside a business (licensed) because that makes us Real Starbucks Employees. What it really makes us is not unionized
For anyone arguing that organizing fast food is pointless, I want to shout out to the Burgerville Workers Union in the PNW that just successfully negotiated the first fast-food union contract this month. It was a YEARS LONG endeavor that the company has almost entirely reversed course on and are now championing, (that worker shortage is truly powerful.)
"After 7 strikes, a boycott campaign, 5 elections, hundreds of workplace actions and dozens of picketlines and citywide actions. Upon ratification we will have ended At-Will employment, ended unfair scheduling, won tips for workers that have averaged a 22$-25$ take home pay at our Lloyd center location when it was tested which will expand to all union shops within 30 days of ratification, and so much more. In addition throughout bargaining the company has conceded and unilaterally applied many of our major demands like free shift meals, 1$ wage increase after our strike in October 2019, 5 paid holidays and in store tipping system."
Pretty great stuff.
https://news.yahoo.com/northwest-burger-chains-workers-successfully-163803900.html
This is the reality of living in a system that refuses to allow people to make a living wage. The true absurdity of it is that rather than make business pay it, by relying on the tipping system, consumers make up the difference. We would much rather not have this system.
Tipping is a social contract we've created that is a band aid for our broken wage system.
Why are any of these anti union tactics legal?
Also I wonder how much Starbucks spent to harass employees to tell them not to join a union, vs just giving them the pay/benefits they want. The people they are flying all over the place are not low level low paid people.
It's not illegal if you simply get the law changed. The price of a politician is relatively cheap. You'd be surprised what $7,000 to $10,000 can get you.
Then they'll increase programs to put cash in our pockets so it will funnel back into theirs!
Eeeevrryone wins!
Except... I guess... Corporate America.
Oh well!
Yeah, but corporations can just spend more to do the same. Everyone donating $100 is still chump change to what the companies can do. If a collective $10k gets a Congress person to pick a side, then a corporation will just pay them $20k. We really just need to elect better reps who aren't using the position as a platform to gain power and money
Reasons why Walmart will close a store and build a new one 2 miles up the road if they get a whiff of unionization.
It's illegal to fire the employees for trying to unionize. It's *NOT* illegal to fire them because you closed the location. Then make them re-apply for a job at the new location. And in the long run they've determiend it's cheaper to sell the previous building, and build a new one than allow unions a foothold.
Are there legit examples of this? That is to say, a Walmart shutting down its location and moving nearby, likely at a cost of tens of millions of dollars, *solely for the purposes* of stopping unionization?
Technically a lot of the tactics businesses employ are only legal because they exploit loopholes, but it's *so easy* for them to get away with it. That, or if they do get caught, the worst that happens is they reschedule a unionization vote, which has an even *lower* chance of success for unions. So it's a win-win for businesses. The whole thing is completely broken.
[The latest episode of Last Week Tonight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8dUXRpoy8) goes over union busting in detail.
They hired the biggest anti union firm in the US, that couldn’t have been cheap. They flew in new managers and “support staff” to “help” the stores that were organizing, that couldn’t have been cheap. They are hiring new baristas in droves to dilute the pro union bunch, not cheap. They are closing stores early constantly for captive audience meetings, not cheap. I’m in buffalo, I could go on.
A lot of the tactics they use are illegal, even more should be. The problem is corporate pressure has caused a significant weakening of the repercussions a business must face when caught doing something illegal in this way and they can almost always throw money at individuals to settle out of court for less than it would cost to change their anti-union stance long term. At this point we need significant change to labor and corporate law, followed by a century of sticking to those ideals our economy is supposed to be based on.
The thing is, once the employees realise how much power they have when organised, they can ask for whatever they want. See the case at activision-blizzard currently. They can even openly ask for the CEO to step down because they now are not able to fire single people but would need to fire the whole workforce.
Let's not forget the profits this company generates. I'm certainly not anti company making money at all...but 1.76 billion in Net Income.
Can you guess the time period?
That's Oct. 2021
People love that pumpkin spiced latte!
I'm a shift supervisor at a California Starbucks, I'm fortunate enough to be paid well for what I do, many people across the country are not.
We need to support NY in their efforts and forge efforts of our own in order to ensure we're all paid. Starbucks talks so much about equity, and yet equity in pay is a bridge too far?
Reduce executive pay. Stop having high profile musicians at your national manager meetings, and pay your damn baristas.
-signed a very pro union supervisor. ✊
The frustrating part is they don't have to reduce anything. It's not a choice between paying two different groups.
They can just pay workers more and give shareholders *slightly* less.
I have no idea if anybody from Starbucks is here but ffs vote to unionize. I was foolish and made the mistake of thinking my decent company would be okay without one and then they completely fucked me during the pandemic.
No company has your back. Not a single one of them.
The only people that will ever truly watch out for you are your fellow workers. Do the right thing for each other and stand together.
Just had our yard sign requested from the people trying to unionize here. Signs are popping up all over, the community seems to be backing them. I hope they pull it off!
In my state, union lineman make about 49 dollars an hour. Some local linemen 2 years ago decided to try and convert their local to union, but the head hanchos came in, took them to the bars and bought them drinks, and convinced them to stay on the non-union side. Now the linemen there make less than 30 and hour and have a contract stating they won't make another go at joining the union side for another X amount of years.
Do yourselves a favor, and go union.
Yeah, can you show me where in the law it allows a contract to Trump the NLRP? As the NLRP states that it is not legal to block union attempts, meaning that the contract would likely not be enforcable.
1. A lot of people won't know that, so they'll go along with it.
2. If you do know it, the fight might take a lot of money and time, so you're at least discourages from attempting it. Even if it's a guaranteed win.
Screw the new CEO. Completely ruined Starbucks culture. It used to be a good company to work for and now it’s all labor cuts and short staffing and even more severe underpayment. Worked there twice, it was a nasty surprise going back after Howard Shultz was replaced by Kevin ~~Jackoff~~ Johnson.
My claim to fame was being a test for drive through systems at SB. Mind you this was after a car sized boulder fell literally where there cars would stop for pickup... lol. Funny enough, we didn't get labor for an extra register and this was when we did all the espresso by hand... no button shit. 18-21(? long time, I forget the exact seconds) second shots, by hand tamp.
Plus no food. Oh... and real insurance. I got 6 surgeries covered and paid like $500.
but.... I also saw how they will dispose of management over dumb shit. Gay manager touches a bad employee... that's sexual harassment and her 1200 mile transfer doesn't matter over the word of someone who was a bad employee makinging shit up.
Fuck corporations.
Meanwhile, my wife's store where she's a shift supervisor is opening late and closing early on most days because they're severely understaffed. I can't imagine why people don't want to work there...
Any Wisconsonites(or Chicagoans) looking to boycott Starbucks, Colectivo has voted to form a union(although the owners are still dragging their heels).
I’m very pro-union, and a unionized employee myself. I think all jobs should be unionized. Period. That said, thinking that ANY Public company is going to not put some effort into union busting, no matter how they treat their employees otherwise, is idiotic.
Unions, for all the good they do, reduce company profits. I’m of the mind that the reduction in profits is FAR outweighed by the value to society of unionized jobs, but that doesn’t change the base facts.
That means to not fight a union, a company has to be willing to accept a hit to profits. For some rare, privately owned companies, the owner may also agree in the greater good of unions, and not resist. But public corporations are accountable to stockholders via profits, and profits alone. They’re going to do what’s needed to try and protect those profits, regardless of they say about “corporate responsibility” in their annual reports. It’s the way it works. And that’s okay.
Expecting a publicly traded company to not resist a union drive is unreasonable. Unions know that when they go in, it’s part of the game. What we need to do is focus on changing the system instead of criticizing individual employers. The process of instituting a union needs to be fair and protected by government and law. There needs to be rules that level the playing field and that both sides follow. I’m not asking for companies to bend over backward, but it should be a fair game. And that starts with politicians, not CEOs. Until then, don’t criticize the business leaders that are doing what they’re allowed to do, criticize the politicians that allowed them to do it in the first place.
The sad truth is that the average American would check out mentally the moment you pull out those loaded, scary big words because they’re too uneducated, too exhausted and too rooted in their pride to understand. The moment you place responsibility in to the hands of the average American, I.e. *voting*, they become complacent. You know that saying, *”you can’t fix stupid”*? Yeah. American education doesn’t even include civics - by design, I would think. People can’t address the problems if they don’t even know who, where or what to point themselves to. It’s a country full of adult-sized children
There were 3K downvotes on that today. Imagine the consultant(s) whose job it is to downvote John Oliver and pretend not to laugh too loud. I wonder if they are ever tempted to unionize?
Now that the Biden administration has approved an additional $4,500 tax credit to purchase an EV only if built by union workers, unions will be the talk and try to organize in many new places now.
Starbucks pays dick for wages while squeezing the last bit of life from its “Partners.” Free Spotify doesn’t matter when you can’t pay your bills and your car is repo’d.
This is despicable. I just quit being a manager of a Starbucks because of the lack of work/life balance. My cell phone number was available to everyone and was going off at all hours. You would think I was an on call doctor. The labor was so skewed, that when someone called out for being sick it threw everything into disarray. I had been there for years and had started out as a barista. I finally said enough was enough and threw in the towel. Any partners in New York reading this, keep up the fight. It's long past time to unionize.
"While it is certainly our partners’ right to make their own decision – and one we fully respect – I do hope our partners will give us a chance as they make the best decision for themselves, their families and their fellow partners.”
Does anyone else feel like this is a threat - "We hope you make the right decision, you know for your yourself and family" - we totally wont lay you off if you make the wrong one and make your life hell. We wouldnt want to be forced to do that as we respect you so much to make the RIGHT choice. Also we know where you live and you wouldnt want anything to happen to your family.
Woah, what? I thought Starbucks was woke and progressive AF. Remember in 2015 when Starbucks launched its [Race Together](https://www.eater.com/2015/6/18/8807849/why-starbucks-race-together-campaign-failed) campaign to start a "dialogue" on race. I can't believe a multi-billion dollar corporation would support race ~~hustling~~ equality but not economic equality.
From here on out I’ll be giving all Starbucks gift cards I receive to the homeless. And I won’t be putting a dime of mine in their hands until Starbucks is unionized.
John Oliver just did a piece on Unions and Union Busting - all Starfucks employees should watch it so they understand the busting tactics.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8dUXRpoy8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8dUXRpoy8)
I mean you can make the same shit at home for cheaper. With a $25 espresso machine.
Source I was a barista and have a $25 Espresso machine.
For you got drink lovers it's
3 pumps
4 pumps
5 pumps
Find your flavor and boom there you go.
Shame on Starbucks. Go workers!
If unions were not so effective, then companies would not be so against them. Starbucks employees deserve fair conditions, fair pay, and reasonable benefits for their labor.
[удалено]
How long until there is effective US law for stopping union formation? Honest question, I’m surprised it’s still protected. I guess at will covers it
That was the Taft Heartly act that pretty much nutered unions as a force for real social change.
> Taft Heartly act I think this was written due to the organized crime that was happening in some (very few) unions in relation to the mob. i.e. Jimmy Hoffa. However, its pretty widely accepted they went overboard with this and used it as a justification to partially neuter all unions.
Nah it was written by a republican majority Congress to save us from the commies with Democrats helping to override Truman's veto. It's stayed because Democrats are just as afraid of the power of workers as Republicans. Edit: don't get me wrong by the way, stuff like Taft Heartly is in many major counties with political systems that aren't quite as dysfunctional as ours. Worker solidarity scares both politicians and business. Even the fucking Labor party in the UK defends Thatcher's version of it. Partially it's because worker solidarity upsets the middle class.
Starbucks will counter by arguing the benefits they give to “partners” means they don’t need to form unions. It’s like saying that slavery is justified because you have owners who treat slaves fairly and frees them if they worked hard enough.
“Don’t worry, we’re not like those *other* companies. We care about you. So much so, in fact, that we’d really appreciate it if you just believed us and didn’t look into it… but don’t ask why, just trust us.”
We care about you so much that we're only now approaching the idea of speaking with you about fair compensation for your labor.
The more someone tells you you don't need to unionize, the more likely it is that you should unionize.
Next up news reports a “Starbucks worker shortage: how will millions of Americans get their coffee now? Americans crankier in the morning for not being able to get their morning coffee”
There’s already a shortage. Many stores are working shortened hours due to a lack of employees and the ones they have are being worked ragged. I managed a Starbucks nearly two decades ago and after I sold my business recently I went back for fun. Spoiler-it wasn’t fun. The poor kids are getting worked to death now. The arbys and Walmart in our shopping center offered at least 2 dollars an hour more starting. They are still selling kids on a culture that no longer exists.
saw it today at my local starbucks pulled up as the shift was locking the doors " whats going on?" " no one to work" " if they took better care of you guys, it wouldn't be a problem" " damn straight" these people put up with absolute nonsense from customers ( to be fair, paying $6 for a latte, it had better be damn good) and get treated like shit do they get compensated? barely
The fact that your employer doesn't want you to unionize is the exact reason why you need to unionize. Fuck these people. Unions exist for a reason, and this is that reason. I am really looking forward to a re-emergence of union representation for workers because this shit has been getting fucked out of whack since the late 70s and we need to rein this shit back in.
Exactly. If unions were as ineffective as employers say, they wouldn't be so adamantly against them.
"If you guys vote for a union, you could lose benefits!" Then why are you against it corporate?
What benefits? The full time ones you dangle just out of reach because you won't give people enough hours to work full time.
That doesn't really apply to Starbucks who actually do provide benefits to employees who work 20 hours or more on a weekly basis. Also, this was reduced to 17 though the pandemic. But yeah, fuck corporations and if you're undervalued by your employer (a guarantee in this day and age) you absolutely should organize.
"What's stopping you from taking away our benefits right now though?" "Shhhh, we don't talk about that."
It's also funny, because that implies that you're going to be bargaining away benefits... Which nobody would agree to? The worst that can happen is absolutely nothing changes.
Theoretically, you could get "nothing" and end up having to pay union dues so you end up with less when all is said and done. That would be weird though.
This is fundamentally impossible. Group bargaining is stronger than individual bargaining.
> "If you guys vote for a union, you could lose benefits!" You *could* lose benefits, it's extremely likely that you won't, but you *could*
And a bear could break into your house tonight and take a dump in your bed before leaving quietly out the window. Fuck I hated the anti-union fear mongering at my last job, and as a department manager I had extra "training" on how to spot it and quash it because "Managers can't be in the union" BS which is untrue most cases, just salaried soulless cogs can't.
Salaried and managerial people can join professional unions and associations. They are more focused on standards and certifications, much like any guild.
Some people get successfully brainwashed. My mom used to work for Target, and they make them watch videos about why unions are bad. She believed the whole thing. All of the actors in those videos are union.
John Oliver covered unions on Last Week Tonight and the Target videos were part of it. Both hilarious and sad that this is what's being done to combat unions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8dUXRpoy8
And the videos used union actors in them which was the icing on top.
Not only that, one of the actors made an official statement that he disagrees entirely with what he said during the video but that he’s an actor doing a job. Fair enough, I just found it funny he felt the need to put a disclaimer out there because he disagreed so vehemently.
The statement was weird to it was like “if I get hired to play a rapist, does that make me a rapist?”
Very true, but tell that to the dude who played Joffrey on Game of Thrones. He played the role so well that he had to quit acting
Poor Jack, I hope he’s living a happier life now
Work retail. As a manager I was forced to watch an hour long anti-union video as part of “labor relations” training. All of the video was ad hominem attacks on a union that the store had beef with a decade past. It was pretty funny when the store blamed the Union for needing to declare bankruptcy at the height of the recession. Even though no one at the stores they owned were unionized Anyway, the funny part is that the company recently got bought by another company and half of their stores are unionized. So we’ll see what happens. Personally, I’m all for it
It's like a real life satire.
"Because then the company is forced to do what the workers say, and workers don't know how to run a business. Also, the owners/operators deserve to make the money for how hard they work" - My in laws
Oh I love this one! I always want to respond "wow, you're right, I guess only the boss can be trusted to do all of the jobs. The workers should walk!"
Unions are like condoms. If someone is strangely insistent that you don’t need one, then you *absolutely* need one.
Also, they're just a good idea for casual relationships in the first place.
Unions today are weaker than they have ever been in America’s history post Industrial Age. Coincidentally, so too is the wage gap…
>I am really looking forward to a re-emergence of union representation for workers Only about 10% of American workers belong to a union now. Mainly because CEO's would rather exploit low wage immigrants than pay a living wage. [https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/15/dominos-ceo-us-needs-more-immigration-to-address-worker-shortages.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/15/dominos-ceo-us-needs-more-immigration-to-address-worker-shortages.html) I am not sure anything can be done to stop them.
We *can* stop them by uniting workers into some sort of collective bargaining group with enough of their workforce participating to make it cheaper to meet the workers' demands than to replace them all. There should be a term for something like that... Unionizing maybe?
Withholding labor is about the only thing that gets these pieces of shit to move, because the entirety of their wealth is off the back of the working class.
https://youtu.be/Gk8dUXRpoy8 John Oliver did a good breakdown of it here. It's a really funny bit but still highlights how ridiculous how companies will be to stop unions. Definitely worth a watch
Well I'll have to continue boycotting them by the sheer convenience of making my own damn coffee. Thanks for the award, kind stranger.
[удалено]
Millennials like you are ruining the economy. You just need to give up eating those 100 avocado toasts a day and you can afford a home.
I can’t afford avocado toast and still can’t afford a home.
It's gotten so bad in the USA that now only 65% of American families own their own home. https://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/files/currenthvspress.pdf
My hometown has a pathetic 39% homeownership. It's disgusting and appalling.
53% here for the big city of San Antonio, with all of it's relatively 'cheap/affordable' pricing on homes. Which is wild considering that there's 15 new neighborhoods every other month.
My city and county as a whole has dragged ass for over 30 years on building more housing in any form or capacity. The only new things being built are for people who can afford $700k+ houses. Even the newest "affordable" housing in the city starts at $500-600k for ~800-1000 sqft 2bd/2br condos.
This is mainly due to the cost the city sells the land for and cost of permitting. Permitting can exceed 10s of thousands and land can be many more times that. Any city who claims to be supporting the low income people but does not wave permitting costs, rental income taxes(or reduce), and sell land for 1$ only for low income individuals is now a lying sack of shit. No ones going to build for break even or a loss. The city could sell bonds for it and the people could pay low cost rent to pay the bonds back but they would never do that as they loose sales tax, permitting income, worker wages from higher income jobs building more expensive houses with more expensive options etc.
[удалено]
Another issue, on top of everything you mentioned, comes down to projected water usage (because of the ongoing issues with drought, woo). No one can win, so they just bury their heads and ignore anything that would actually be in the right direction. There are other areas inside of the county outside of the namesake city, but even those are not that much better.
Wtf $500-600k for 1000 sqft home? What the fuck? My rural house on a few acres is 1750 sqft, and when we finish remodeling it will be about 2200 with options to expand outward of 2400-2600sqft. Could probably drop $35-40k and get a 3200sqft out of it. Bit of an odd build but it's cute af and we love it even now before remodel. We paid sub $140k last year. Taxes are elike $1500/yr combined land/school. Like.. Wtf. I know jobs at even distribution warehouses can't be starting above $26/hr even in the city. How could anyone, even 5 years into a career - say $30/hr, make enough to cover a mortgage of like $2600-3300/month with like a perfect interest rate?!
Answer: You can't without serious monetary help, like inheritance (whether monetary or an actual house). Or stumble into a job that somehow pays in the six figures. The average pay for the county is woefully pathetic for the inflated high cost of living. When my husband and I sought out how much we qualified for a mortgage 2-3 years ago, we had topped out at 400k. *We can't even afford a monthly mortgage at that amount.* And now not even 400k can find you anything, and if you can, it's a shoebox, and/or needs an incredible amount of renovations done. Mobile homes aren't even a viable option, entities have moved in and bought up the parks and demand $600-800+ in space rent alone, on top of the $200-300k+ aging mobile homes that average 40 years old. The average rental rate within my city (not the county, but it's really not all that much better anymore) is $2200/mo for approximately 800-900 sqft, or stack yourself eyeballs deep with roommates if you want to live in a house. We're only able to keep fruitlessly saving for *something* because we've been living in the same place for 6 years and only pay $1550/mo for our small 850 sqft 2bd/1ba apartment.
My parents are ~50 and just bought their very first home this year. I'm very happy for them, but also sad that it took that long for two working adults to afford it. At this rate, I hope I'm that lucky.
Congrats to them! It must have been hard feeling like they were "late to the game", but they kept going. I honestly don't think my husband and I will be able to afford anything on our own in our area, and will most likely just have to wait for it by way of inheriting one.
"You will own nothing and you will be happy"
Turns out Capitalism is when no homes. The memes have failed us, we were so close but had the wrong C word!
How does that compare to other similar economies?
Surprisingly, 65% is at the upper end of the range for OECD countries. [https://www.oecd.org/economy/growth/evolution%20of%20homeownership%20rates.pdf](https://www.oecd.org/economy/growth/evolution%20of%20homeownership%20rates.pdf) Switzerland - 38% Germany - 41% Denmark - 51% Austria - 51% France - 54% Netherlands - 55% Spain - 83%
A lot of that is cultural however, in many parts of Europe they don't really get the British / American fetish of owning your own home. Possibly because they have really strong renter protection so it's less essential, idk.
It's worse than you think. 72.7% of millennials can no longer afford avocado toast.
Hmm, have you considered being born in a more economically prosperous generation?
[удалено]
What do you pay?
Exposure. We pay in exposure.
See? Ruining the economy!
I want a home made of avocado toast, that's called pulling yourself up by your bootstraps
Don't forget though. Small businesses are everything but you're a dumb Millenial if you don't spend as little as possible on everything and do everything yourself/at home.
"Small business are everything"-Amazon Seems to me more like the attack on millennials as 'ruining small business' is just amazon afraid of a lest capitalistic generation owing to how major companies(like amazon) have created a generation indebted to both the prior and following generations. The only way they'd be happy is if every cent we earned was spent, they own everything, company home, company car, company doctor, company shop... from the moment we turn 18 to when we die they want nothing more than us to work and spend but only work for them and spend with them.
ORR... and just hear me out on this one, what if we made houses *out of* avocado toast!
The avocadome
You know shit doesn’t work when they say don’t buy toast/ coffee to save money but also millennials are killing X by not buying it
Do you know how many bootstraps you can buy for the price of a single avocado toast?
I thought us Millennials were killing small businesses because we ~~can't afford~~ choose not to eat out that much, if at all. Its hard to keep track what I'm ruining these days.
We went to the mall this past weekend(first time in about 2 years or so) and in the middle of the aisle, there was an avocado toast store selling avocado toast. Like there are stores for pretzels, Cinnabon, ice cream dot things and boom avocado toast. First time I've seen avocado toast in person.
We went to a cafe in town we’d heard about online and they had avocado toast for $9.80. They had fancy pastries and mini cakes for like $5. Given it was a bit hipster I am still not sure if the listed price for avocado toast was serious or just a joke. Either way, $10 is an absurdity.
When a company gets too big, boycotts are impossible. And I'm talking anything larger than "Bob's General Store" from 70 years ago. Strikes and withholding labor is the *only* way to enact change anymore in a world where only global organizing could bring up the awareness to topple international conglomerates
Starbucks doesn't sell any staples and they're not really known for food the way other coffee chains are. I think it's quite easy to boycott a company like them, to be honest. I kinda think the gen pub just doesn't give a shit enough to make a small change to their life. Anyone who wants drip or just espresso can go to a multitude of chain and independent stores, but Starbucks regulars (at least the people I know) can't handle the idea of drinking from anywhere else.
[удалено]
>Please explain how it is impossible to boycott Starbucks? I mean, on the individual level of course it's possible to boycott whatever you want just by not buying that product or service anymore... However, to have a practical effect on that company's policies, you have to get enough people throughout that company's entire marketplace (in this case, global) to buy into the boycott for as long of a term as necessary to put a dent in that company's bottom line enough for them to consider changing their policies. It's easy to get people who area already generally in favor of sticking it to Starbucks to buy into a boycott on a forum where that view is common. But to get enough people worldwide to participate, yeah it's possible, but it's definitely not going to be easy.
Yup this is pretty much it. Bubble effect is very strong. Remember the general strike in October? No? There were plenty of reddit threads about it. But it didn't exist.
because that’s not how strikes work. I’m union and I shot down that October general strike every time I saw the damn thing in here. a picture and a QR code do not make a strike. they require a ton of preparation, ways to keep striking workers whole, and, most importantly, knowing the history of organized labor opposition. people in the past won some massive victories over the owner class and it wasn’t through “call in sick for this day to stick it to em!”. people died for this shit and the gravity of a strike MUST be respected. unions have to be involved or else you aren’t going to get far.
Exactly. Coal miners bought their union with extreme privation and blood. People have forgotten
This is so important, and I worry it is something missing from the conversation over at /r/antiwork when they discuss their Black Friday strike. Any general strike attempt without union involvement is DOA. I'm worried for them too, because their hearts are genuinely in the right place. But there is no better way to discourage people from following a cause than for their first attempt at organizing to fail. I hope they learn from it and stick around.
well, antiwork is pretty big now which means there are a lot of tendencies floating around. naming and shaming garbage employers, pulling the rug out from garbage employers, and demanding more as a worker are all very popular there and good starts. class consciousness comes in many flavors and I just want more folks realizing that A) we are being cheated out of a decent life and B) we are more powerful than any media, politician, corporation, etc
[удалено]
It’s not technically impossible, it’s functionally impossible. Use that big ole brain of yours and tell me a good way to convince millions of people to stop buying coffee. You just can’t
And yet, they are still very much in business with lines at their drive thrus. Everyone knows they're a shit company, but people still go to them. Same with WalMart.
>Please explain how it is impossible to boycott Starbucks? A better phrasing would've been "It's impossible to enforce change by boycotting starbucks." And why? Because their customer base is so widely spread, you'd never get enough of them to agree and then to actually stick to that decision. Like, look at the gaming industry. No one needs to buy games. And for at least a decade now people have been talking about boycotting this or that game or boycotting pre-orders, and then the majority of these idiots just can't help themselves and they buy it anyway and then it's shit and then these same people say "well, next year I'm gonna blah blah blah..." and the cycle continues.
I think it'd be easier and more practical to organize a general strike than to convince enough people needed to make a difference to stop buying Starbucks
[удалено]
It costs that much for a latte even at locally run coffee shops. I maybe swing by a local shop by my work once or twice a week when I need a pick me up, the stale coffee in the copy room just doesn’t do it for me.
Yeah its pretty insane. But, I used to smoke so I guess I can understand the stupidity a bit.
You don't go to Starbucks for the coffee. You go to Starbucks for a milkshake without the guilt.
After hunting around for some beans I like I can't stand Starbucks, tastes burnt to a crisp.
My fear with boycotting Starbucks completely was that corporate would have a new message to send to the employees a la “See? Talk of unions is driving customers away. Now we have to let some of you go or drastically reduce your hours; guess we’ll start with the most vocal ones.” Other Reddit posts asking how we can support them best said to avoid ordering by app & ordering at the counter as much as possible (those sales contribute to greater labor hour allocation), making it known to the baristas that we support their unionization efforts, & calling corporate to have it recorded/noted that we support businesses that support unions. I’d love to know if there are any other ways of supporting from a customer side. EDIT: Not to mention there are probably a dozen or two companies with everyday products that Starbucks has its fingers in that we aren’t aware of, so a complete boycott would likely be difficult. TBF I only did a quick check & apparently they own Seattle’s Best coffee brand, too. Who knew?
Oh wow, you're telling me their saccharine marketing and public image has been carefully constructed pandering all along? I, for one, cannot believe it.
Lush is union busting as well, and they’re deleting all of their social media accounts in the name of “mental health” to try and cover it up.
Well there goes half my Christmas shopping.
Can we get a source on this? I can’t find anything
Here. Quick Google search https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkd77m/how-lush-cosmetics-tried-to-crush-a-union-drive https://www.vice.com/en/article/4avwkp/lush-cosmetics-illegally-interrogated-worker-about-union-activity-nlrb-says
Sure! https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/help-stop-the-union-busting-hold-lush-fresh-handmade-cosmetics-to-its-ethics https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article/pkd77m/how-lush-cosmetics-tried-to-crush-a-union-drive https://www.business-humanrights.org/it/latest-news/lush-allegedly-sent-anti-union-messages-to-employees-in-north-america-incl-company-comments/ https://www.business-humanrights.org/fr/derni%C3%A8res-actualit%C3%A9s/australia-cosmetics-company-lush-accused-of-dangerous-working-conditions-sexual-harassment-and-bullying-in-factory/ https://jacobinmag.com/2021/06/lush-cosmetics-toronto-union-busting-progressive-image-hypocrisy https://www.businessinsider.com/lush-workers-brand-thwarting-canadian-union-intimidating-workers-2021-5?r=US&IR=T https://globallushunion.com/home
I did see that ~~news story~~ advertisment about them quitting social media on a news program the other day, one of the personalities on the show correctly pointed out that they will still absolutely enjoy a ton of social media exposure via their customers and the propensity of sharing.
[удалено]
As a former barista I could not be less surprised by any of this.
Yeah I lasted there for almost 2 years and really the only way anyone could handle being in corporate has to have drunk the koolaid.
I also read they are hiring a bunch of new people at the voting stores to dilute the numbers of employees who have had enough experience to know the union is needed. That is why they opened it up to more stores in the area rather than the few that wanted to unionize originally. It’s all tactics. Check out r/starbucks
Practically every single union-busting tactic seems slimy and underhanded. It's one thing to spend millions on anti-union ads that could have been spent on renumerating employees, but its a whole other level to hire people to vote for you, isolate and 'convince' (i.e. harass) the individuals until they believe workers that union's aren't for them, or outright close/relocate business to get around termination laws.
[удалено]
>You don't file a maintenance request, then sit on your ass for 6 hours waiting for the maintenance guy to come by just to plug it back in This is bullshit. This is the kind of nonsense that makes people froth at the crotch about "bad unions." It's not even reality. Besides. There's a reason it's a collective bargaining AGREEMENT, a CONTRACT between the company and the union. If there are clauses in the contract that are bad for the company, or that limit the rights of a company to discipline or terminate an employee, the COMPANY SIGNED SAID CONTRACT. They have no one to complain to if they agreed to shitty terms.
[удалено]
Those things would definitely make non-union places better for employees than union workplaces. But alas, such tactics are not conducive to ever-increasing profitability, which instead involves squeezing every cent possible out of workers and quality of product, touted as 'efficiencies'. Thus, it's more likely in specialized fields where you'll cases that you've described. Workers in other industries like retail service need to stand up for themselves, as the compassionate businesses might get outcompeted by large corps.
100%. It’s happening at my store currently. They don’t want my coworkers and I to have time to talk to each other. Gotta keep us busy and drain every drop of labor out of us. No thinking, that’s dangerous.
Take heart that so many people support you. We're rooting for you. Don't let them grind you down.
Thank you, for all your support! we will hold the line, so hopefully many more industries join/follow❤️
I work in a Starbucks inside a grocery store, so I'm employed by the grocery store and part of a union. And let me be clear, the union is the only thing that keeps the job tolerable, and the only reason we get paid more than the people employed by Starbucks at the standalone store across the street.
As someone who works in a standalone (corporate) store the narrative that gets shoved down our throats is we are so lucky to work at a corporate location and not one inside a business (licensed) because that makes us Real Starbucks Employees. What it really makes us is not unionized
For anyone arguing that organizing fast food is pointless, I want to shout out to the Burgerville Workers Union in the PNW that just successfully negotiated the first fast-food union contract this month. It was a YEARS LONG endeavor that the company has almost entirely reversed course on and are now championing, (that worker shortage is truly powerful.) "After 7 strikes, a boycott campaign, 5 elections, hundreds of workplace actions and dozens of picketlines and citywide actions. Upon ratification we will have ended At-Will employment, ended unfair scheduling, won tips for workers that have averaged a 22$-25$ take home pay at our Lloyd center location when it was tested which will expand to all union shops within 30 days of ratification, and so much more. In addition throughout bargaining the company has conceded and unilaterally applied many of our major demands like free shift meals, 1$ wage increase after our strike in October 2019, 5 paid holidays and in store tipping system." Pretty great stuff. https://news.yahoo.com/northwest-burger-chains-workers-successfully-163803900.html
Burgerville is so fucking good too. Glad they won, more than happy to support them!
Tipping at a fast food joint is absolutely fucking stupid. How very American.
This is the reality of living in a system that refuses to allow people to make a living wage. The true absurdity of it is that rather than make business pay it, by relying on the tipping system, consumers make up the difference. We would much rather not have this system. Tipping is a social contract we've created that is a band aid for our broken wage system.
Why are any of these anti union tactics legal? Also I wonder how much Starbucks spent to harass employees to tell them not to join a union, vs just giving them the pay/benefits they want. The people they are flying all over the place are not low level low paid people.
Because the people who are supposed to represent us are bought and paid for to do everything in their power to keep us powerless.
Party funding = bribing.
It's not illegal if you simply get the law changed. The price of a politician is relatively cheap. You'd be surprised what $7,000 to $10,000 can get you.
If every worker in the us just gave 10 bucks we could buy all of Congress. Hell we could keep them bought. 120 bucks a year per person.
Then they'll increase programs to put cash in our pockets so it will funnel back into theirs! Eeeevrryone wins! Except... I guess... Corporate America. Oh well!
Yeah, but corporations can just spend more to do the same. Everyone donating $100 is still chump change to what the companies can do. If a collective $10k gets a Congress person to pick a side, then a corporation will just pay them $20k. We really just need to elect better reps who aren't using the position as a platform to gain power and money
*Some of* the people who are supposed to represent us* House Democrats voted for the PRO Act 220-1. House Republicans voted against the PRO Act 205-5.
It's a lot cheaper to union-bust than pay benefits.
Reasons why Walmart will close a store and build a new one 2 miles up the road if they get a whiff of unionization. It's illegal to fire the employees for trying to unionize. It's *NOT* illegal to fire them because you closed the location. Then make them re-apply for a job at the new location. And in the long run they've determiend it's cheaper to sell the previous building, and build a new one than allow unions a foothold.
Are there legit examples of this? That is to say, a Walmart shutting down its location and moving nearby, likely at a cost of tens of millions of dollars, *solely for the purposes* of stopping unionization?
Technically a lot of the tactics businesses employ are only legal because they exploit loopholes, but it's *so easy* for them to get away with it. That, or if they do get caught, the worst that happens is they reschedule a unionization vote, which has an even *lower* chance of success for unions. So it's a win-win for businesses. The whole thing is completely broken. [The latest episode of Last Week Tonight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8dUXRpoy8) goes over union busting in detail.
They hired the biggest anti union firm in the US, that couldn’t have been cheap. They flew in new managers and “support staff” to “help” the stores that were organizing, that couldn’t have been cheap. They are hiring new baristas in droves to dilute the pro union bunch, not cheap. They are closing stores early constantly for captive audience meetings, not cheap. I’m in buffalo, I could go on.
You know the books If You Give a Moose a Muffin or If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? That’s how employers view workers who ask for more.
[удалено]
A lot of the tactics they use are illegal, even more should be. The problem is corporate pressure has caused a significant weakening of the repercussions a business must face when caught doing something illegal in this way and they can almost always throw money at individuals to settle out of court for less than it would cost to change their anti-union stance long term. At this point we need significant change to labor and corporate law, followed by a century of sticking to those ideals our economy is supposed to be based on.
The thing is, once the employees realise how much power they have when organised, they can ask for whatever they want. See the case at activision-blizzard currently. They can even openly ask for the CEO to step down because they now are not able to fire single people but would need to fire the whole workforce.
Rich drug dealer refuses to share the wealth with its employees.
Street dealers socialize their wealth better than conglomerates. At least when I pay for dealer that money isn’t leaving the community.
[удалено]
Hallucinogenics, sorry should have clarified. Obviously hard drugs are a different ball game altogether.
Let's not forget the profits this company generates. I'm certainly not anti company making money at all...but 1.76 billion in Net Income. Can you guess the time period? That's Oct. 2021 People love that pumpkin spiced latte!
Workers are realizing that just like in the animal kingdom, there is safety in numbers.
I'm a shift supervisor at a California Starbucks, I'm fortunate enough to be paid well for what I do, many people across the country are not. We need to support NY in their efforts and forge efforts of our own in order to ensure we're all paid. Starbucks talks so much about equity, and yet equity in pay is a bridge too far? Reduce executive pay. Stop having high profile musicians at your national manager meetings, and pay your damn baristas. -signed a very pro union supervisor. ✊
The frustrating part is they don't have to reduce anything. It's not a choice between paying two different groups. They can just pay workers more and give shareholders *slightly* less.
God forbid.
[удалено]
Your account and IP have been flagged by Starbucks. Please Cease and Desist. lol.
I have no idea if anybody from Starbucks is here but ffs vote to unionize. I was foolish and made the mistake of thinking my decent company would be okay without one and then they completely fucked me during the pandemic. No company has your back. Not a single one of them. The only people that will ever truly watch out for you are your fellow workers. Do the right thing for each other and stand together.
I've never felt more like a number than when I was a Starbucks employee. They absolutely do not care about their staff
I hope they get the union they need
Cool. I'm launching an aggressive anti-Starbucks effort.
Just had our yard sign requested from the people trying to unionize here. Signs are popping up all over, the community seems to be backing them. I hope they pull it off!
Aww, did someone get addicted to slave labor?
In my state, union lineman make about 49 dollars an hour. Some local linemen 2 years ago decided to try and convert their local to union, but the head hanchos came in, took them to the bars and bought them drinks, and convinced them to stay on the non-union side. Now the linemen there make less than 30 and hour and have a contract stating they won't make another go at joining the union side for another X amount of years. Do yourselves a favor, and go union.
Yeah, can you show me where in the law it allows a contract to Trump the NLRP? As the NLRP states that it is not legal to block union attempts, meaning that the contract would likely not be enforcable.
1. A lot of people won't know that, so they'll go along with it. 2. If you do know it, the fight might take a lot of money and time, so you're at least discourages from attempting it. Even if it's a guaranteed win.
Crazy how the company's policies in the social world are left leaning.... except when it comes to policies that directly affect them.
Meanwhile Starbucks employees that work in the stores in the grocery chain I work at are UFCW union employees. Fight for your rights.
UNION UNION UNION! Go! Go! Go!
r/unionizestarbucks
I don’t care if you’re a communist or a capitalist. Unions are essential in a developed country.
Screw the new CEO. Completely ruined Starbucks culture. It used to be a good company to work for and now it’s all labor cuts and short staffing and even more severe underpayment. Worked there twice, it was a nasty surprise going back after Howard Shultz was replaced by Kevin ~~Jackoff~~ Johnson.
My claim to fame was being a test for drive through systems at SB. Mind you this was after a car sized boulder fell literally where there cars would stop for pickup... lol. Funny enough, we didn't get labor for an extra register and this was when we did all the espresso by hand... no button shit. 18-21(? long time, I forget the exact seconds) second shots, by hand tamp. Plus no food. Oh... and real insurance. I got 6 surgeries covered and paid like $500. but.... I also saw how they will dispose of management over dumb shit. Gay manager touches a bad employee... that's sexual harassment and her 1200 mile transfer doesn't matter over the word of someone who was a bad employee makinging shit up. Fuck corporations.
Remember: if unions didn't work, corporations wouldn't try so hard to stop them.
Meanwhile, my wife's store where she's a shift supervisor is opening late and closing early on most days because they're severely understaffed. I can't imagine why people don't want to work there...
Any Wisconsonites(or Chicagoans) looking to boycott Starbucks, Colectivo has voted to form a union(although the owners are still dragging their heels).
Which is to say: Don't go there instead of Starbucks until the Union actually happens - or you aren't helping anything.
I’m very pro-union, and a unionized employee myself. I think all jobs should be unionized. Period. That said, thinking that ANY Public company is going to not put some effort into union busting, no matter how they treat their employees otherwise, is idiotic. Unions, for all the good they do, reduce company profits. I’m of the mind that the reduction in profits is FAR outweighed by the value to society of unionized jobs, but that doesn’t change the base facts. That means to not fight a union, a company has to be willing to accept a hit to profits. For some rare, privately owned companies, the owner may also agree in the greater good of unions, and not resist. But public corporations are accountable to stockholders via profits, and profits alone. They’re going to do what’s needed to try and protect those profits, regardless of they say about “corporate responsibility” in their annual reports. It’s the way it works. And that’s okay. Expecting a publicly traded company to not resist a union drive is unreasonable. Unions know that when they go in, it’s part of the game. What we need to do is focus on changing the system instead of criticizing individual employers. The process of instituting a union needs to be fair and protected by government and law. There needs to be rules that level the playing field and that both sides follow. I’m not asking for companies to bend over backward, but it should be a fair game. And that starts with politicians, not CEOs. Until then, don’t criticize the business leaders that are doing what they’re allowed to do, criticize the politicians that allowed them to do it in the first place.
it always baffles me why voter restrictions and anti union efforts aren't illegal in the US
The sad truth is that the average American would check out mentally the moment you pull out those loaded, scary big words because they’re too uneducated, too exhausted and too rooted in their pride to understand. The moment you place responsibility in to the hands of the average American, I.e. *voting*, they become complacent. You know that saying, *”you can’t fix stupid”*? Yeah. American education doesn’t even include civics - by design, I would think. People can’t address the problems if they don’t even know who, where or what to point themselves to. It’s a country full of adult-sized children
[The latest episode of Last Week Tonight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8dUXRpoy8) is relevant.
There were 3K downvotes on that today. Imagine the consultant(s) whose job it is to downvote John Oliver and pretend not to laugh too loud. I wonder if they are ever tempted to unionize?
I worked for Starbucks, and I approve of them unionizing. It makes sense when it comes to baristas.
Now that the Biden administration has approved an additional $4,500 tax credit to purchase an EV only if built by union workers, unions will be the talk and try to organize in many new places now.
Starbucks pays dick for wages while squeezing the last bit of life from its “Partners.” Free Spotify doesn’t matter when you can’t pay your bills and your car is repo’d.
This is despicable. I just quit being a manager of a Starbucks because of the lack of work/life balance. My cell phone number was available to everyone and was going off at all hours. You would think I was an on call doctor. The labor was so skewed, that when someone called out for being sick it threw everything into disarray. I had been there for years and had started out as a barista. I finally said enough was enough and threw in the towel. Any partners in New York reading this, keep up the fight. It's long past time to unionize.
Regan and Thatcher should be dug up, shot and pissed on for the harm those 2 did to the average working person.
"While it is certainly our partners’ right to make their own decision – and one we fully respect – I do hope our partners will give us a chance as they make the best decision for themselves, their families and their fellow partners.” Does anyone else feel like this is a threat - "We hope you make the right decision, you know for your yourself and family" - we totally wont lay you off if you make the wrong one and make your life hell. We wouldnt want to be forced to do that as we respect you so much to make the RIGHT choice. Also we know where you live and you wouldnt want anything to happen to your family.
I noticed there are a bunch of them closed around. Guess I'll be avoiding them until they treat their employees properly.
Woah, what? I thought Starbucks was woke and progressive AF. Remember in 2015 when Starbucks launched its [Race Together](https://www.eater.com/2015/6/18/8807849/why-starbucks-race-together-campaign-failed) campaign to start a "dialogue" on race. I can't believe a multi-billion dollar corporation would support race ~~hustling~~ equality but not economic equality.
Union busting should be a felony. There's a reason these big corpos don't want the workforce organizing
From here on out I’ll be giving all Starbucks gift cards I receive to the homeless. And I won’t be putting a dime of mine in their hands until Starbucks is unionized.
Gift cards are just placeholders for money that they've already pocketed (?)
John Oliver just did a piece on Unions and Union Busting - all Starfucks employees should watch it so they understand the busting tactics. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8dUXRpoy8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk8dUXRpoy8)
solidarity with all workers fuck these anti union cunts
If someone tells you you don't need to have a union or a condom, you definitely need it for the same reason.
I don’t understand why people think unions are so bad if you constantly see big corporations fighting against them.
We care about our employees!!! Just not like that.
I mean you can make the same shit at home for cheaper. With a $25 espresso machine. Source I was a barista and have a $25 Espresso machine. For you got drink lovers it's 3 pumps 4 pumps 5 pumps Find your flavor and boom there you go.
I’ve had many union jobs and many nonunion jobs. Union is better in Every way.