Sunday, December 22, 2024

Starbucks Workers Begin Strikes That Could Spread to Hundreds of US Stores (Connecting the Dots: Starbucks, Amazon & Soros Funding, All Networking)

Starbucks Workers Begin Strikes That Could Spread to Hundreds of US Stores (Connecting the Dots: Starbucks, Amazon & Soros Funding, All Networking)

Newsmax.com

Friday, 20 December 2024 01:22 PM EST

People picket outside of a Starbucks store in New York's East Village as Starbucks Workers United announced it was waging the company's largest strike on the coffee company's Red Cup Day. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/2023 file)

https://www.newsmax.com/finance/streettalk/starbucks-union-strike/2024/12/20/id/1192359/

Workers at Starbucks stores began a five-day strike Friday to protest lack of progress in contract negotiations with the company.

The strikes by baristas and other workers were scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle and could spread to hundreds of stores across the country by Christmas Eve. Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing Starbucks' baristas, said at least 10 locations were closed down as of midday Friday.

The walkouts came a day after the Teamsters union announced strikes at seven Amazon delivery hubs.

Starbucks said early Friday there was “no significant impact” to its store operations.

“We are aware of disruption at a small handful of stores, but the overwhelming majority of our U.S. stores remain open and serving customers as normal,” the Seattle-based coffee giant said in a statement.

Workers at 535 company-owned U.S. stores have voted to unionize, but Starbucks has nearly 10,000 company-owned U.S. stores.

Starbucks Workers United, which began the unionization effort in 2021, said Starbucks has failed to honor a commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year. The union also wants the company to resolve outstanding legal issues, including hundreds of unfair labor practice charges that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

The union noted that Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol, who started in September, could make more than $100 million in his first year on the job. But it said the company recently proposed an economic package with no new wage increases for unionized baristas now and a 1.5% increase in future years.

“Union baristas know their value, and they’re not going to accept a proposal that doesn’t treat them as true partners," Starbucks Workers United President Lynne Fox said.

Starbucks said Workers United prematurely ended a bargaining session this week.

“We are ready to continue negotiations to reach agreements. We need the union to return to the table,” the company said in a statement.

Starbucks said it proposed an annual pay increase of at least 1.5% that could be higher in some years. If the company said if it offered a lower increase to non-union stores in any given year, it still would give union workers a 1.5% increase.

Starbucks said the union wants to increase the minimum wage for hourly workers by 64% immediately and 77% over the life of a three-year contract.

Starbucks said it already pays an average of $18 per hour. With benefits — including health care, free college tuition and paid family leave — Starbucks' pay package is worth an average of $30 per hour for baristas who work at least 20 hours per week.

The strikes won't be the first for Starbucks during the busy holiday season. In November 2023, thousands of workers at more than 200 stores walked out on Red Cup Day, when the company usually gives away thousands of reusable cups. Hundreds of workers also went on strike in June 2023 to protest after the union said Starbucks banned Pride displays at some stores.

The union and the company struck a different tone early this year, when they returned to the bargaining table and pledged to reach an agreement. Starbucks said it has held nine bargaining sessions with the union since April, and has reached more than 30 agreements with the union.

But Starbucks has struggled with falling sales and lower customer traffic in the U.S. and abroad this year, and the CEO who promised to work for a labor agreement, Laxman Narasimhan, was forced out this summer. Niccol quashed a unionization campaign at Chipotle when he was the CEO there, but he pledged to work constructively with the union in a September letter.

Now, Starbucks and the union appear to be at an impasse.

“In a year when Starbucks invested so many millions in top executive talent, it has failed to present the baristas who make its company run with a viable economic proposal,” Fatemeh Alhadjaboodi, a Starbucks barista from Texas and bargaining delegate, said in a statement.

Connecting the Dots:

Sheryl K. Sandberg was a director at the Starbucks Corporation and a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and is a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition.

Jeffrey P. Bezos is a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition and the chairman & the president & CEO for Amazon.com, Inc.

Jamie S. Gorelick is a director at the Amazon.com, Inc., and was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

William W. Bradley is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director at the Starbucks Corporation and Mellody L. Hobson’s mentor. 

Mellody L. Hobson’s mentor is William W. Bradley, the chairman for DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. a director at the Starbucks Corporation and was a trustee at the Sundance Institute.

Howard D. Schultz was a director at DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. is the chairman & president & CEO for the Starbucks Corporation and a trustee at the Schultz Family Foundation.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Sundance Institute and the Robin Hood Foundation.

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Schultz Family Foundation was a funder for the Robin Hood Foundation.

Emma Bloomberg was the chief of staff for the Robin Hood Foundation, is Michael R. Bloomberg’ daughter and a director at the Bloomberg Family Foundation

Michael R. Bloomberg was a donor for the Robin Hood Foundation, is Emma Bloomberg’s father and the founder of the Bloomberg Family Foundation.

Bloomberg Family Foundation was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think tank).

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and is a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition.

L. John Doerr is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition and was a director at the Amazon.com, Inc.

Jeffrey P. Bezos is a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition and the chairman & president & CEO for Amazon.com, Inc.

Jamie S. Gorelick is a director at the Amazon.com, Inc., and was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

William W. Bradley is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director at the Starbucks Corporation and Mellody L. Hobson’s mentor. 

Mellody L. Hobson’s mentor is William W. Bradley, the chairman for DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. a director at the Starbucks Corporation and was a trustee at the Sundance Institute.

Howard D. Schultz was a director at DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. is the chairman & president & CEO for the Starbucks Corporation and a trustee at the Schultz Family Foundation.

Resources: Past Research       

Over 300,000 Starbucks Frappuccino Bottles Recalled Due to Possible Glass Inside Them (Connecting the Dots: FDA, PepsiCo, Starbucks & Soros Funding, All Networking) (Past Research on Starbucks)

Saturday, February 18, 2023

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2023/02/over-300000-starbucks-frappuccino.html

Amazon ‘Key’ Service Lets Delivery Drivers Enter Your Home When You’re Not There (Past Research on Amazon)

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2017/10/amazon-key-service-lets-delivery.html

Trump Names Former Goldman Partner, Soros Money Manager As Finance Chairman (Past Research on the Robin Hood Foundation)

Friday, May 6, 2016

https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2016/05/trump-names-former-goldman-partner.html

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