Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) floats around in a cloud of the rarefied air that is happy employees. Or so it seems if you gulp down the Frappuccino Kool-Aid, slurping up the frequent mentions in Fortune's "100 Top Employers" list, the formal name of "partners" instead of employees, the stock options, the good benefits, the repeated comments about raises in earnings calls and shareholder meetings. Yep, if you do nothing but lick up the PR, you must realize that Starbucks' workers -- err, partners -- are the happiest on every block.Or are they? Not according to Daniel Gross, former partner at New York's Madison Avenue and 36th Street store, and the other members of the Starbucks Workers Union he helped organize. While their numbers must be small; the SWU only represents partners at nine of the company's 9,401 U.S. stores; their complaints are multitudinous. Two of the union's members, including Gross, were fired unfairly, they say. Starbucks has been cited by the National Labor Relations Board for breaking the law 30 times by pressuring union members. What's more, Starbucks partners aren't paid highly enough; the 'flexible hours' are too flexible and result in an always-uncertain schedule (yikes! I've never heard of food service organization with oft-changing schedules! oh, wait...); and the benefits aren't used by the majority of Starbucks partners (which Gross & company complain is because Starbucks limits its employees hours; Starbucks claims it's because so many of their employees have other coverage).
Not only that, there's the iced tea gestapo.
Says Gross to the Washington Post: "The key in retail is absolute control over the employee... They've got rules for everything. The iced teas get 10 shakes. Not nine. Not eight. Before you hand it to the customer, 10 shakes. They're terrified a union will come in and say 'Nine shakes is enough.' "
Yeah. I'm sure that's exactly Starbucks' biggest fear! That unions will start demanding a limit to iced tea shakes, and the number of times that annoying little beeping timer will go off before a partner goes to unleash the brewed coffee. And oh dear lord, what if the unions started messing with the number of tamps the ground espresso required? HORRORS.
It may have become obvious to the casual reader by now that this is a time I can only take Starbucks' side of the issue. While I do feel that Starbucks employees are underpaid as compared to, say, your average entry-level construction worker, you can hardly expect much better for baristas who (let's remember) do make a large portion of their earnings through the tip jar. What's more: please, people, work behind a counter at a fast-food restaurant for a few weeks before you start complaining about shaking iced tea. Have you ever cleaned out a deep fryer? No? OK then.
Starbucks may be trumpeting the employee-friendly horn a bit loudly; perhaps the company is even rife with supervisors whose people skills are ill-developed. Take the woman who told me it was "sort of company policy" that I not take photos in my corner outlet, and many of the commenters on Starbucks Gossip. Clearly, this is a company which will not be the biggest feeder into diplomat positions at the U.N. But calling it a union buster, or insisting that it treats employees awfully, is going a bit far.
Were I advising the management team at Starbucks, I'd suggest it welcome the union with open arms, iced tea demands and all.
Yeah. I'm sure that's exactly Starbucks' biggest fear! That unions will start demanding a limit to iced tea shakes, and the number of times that annoying little beeping timer will go off before a partner goes to unleash the brewed coffee. And oh dear lord, what if the unions started messing with the number of tamps the ground espresso required? HORRORS.
It may have become obvious to the casual reader by now that this is a time I can only take Starbucks' side of the issue. While I do feel that Starbucks employees are underpaid as compared to, say, your average entry-level construction worker, you can hardly expect much better for baristas who (let's remember) do make a large portion of their earnings through the tip jar. What's more: please, people, work behind a counter at a fast-food restaurant for a few weeks before you start complaining about shaking iced tea. Have you ever cleaned out a deep fryer? No? OK then.Starbucks may be trumpeting the employee-friendly horn a bit loudly; perhaps the company is even rife with supervisors whose people skills are ill-developed. Take the woman who told me it was "sort of company policy" that I not take photos in my corner outlet, and many of the commenters on Starbucks Gossip. Clearly, this is a company which will not be the biggest feeder into diplomat positions at the U.N. But calling it a union buster, or insisting that it treats employees awfully, is going a bit far.
Were I advising the management team at Starbucks, I'd suggest it welcome the union with open arms, iced tea demands and all.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-13-2007 @ 9:02AM
instructor said...
Union leadership has a vested interest in keeping its membership unhappy with their employer(s). Without that unhappiness, there is no need for unions, nor any need for the union leadership. Think about it.
4-13-2007 @ 12:36PM
Ed C said...
Unions have and always will corrupt happy employees. Union officials eventually get paid more then any worker and are the laziest of all workers. They look forward to attending union conventions held in an out of state location that their co-workers pay for. Working in Starbucks is compared to a Doughnut shop. Yes, it is a much better atmosphere, a great place to visit and hang out at. If you can fog a mirror, put on a happy face, and treat people nice you are hired. The benefits at Starbucks are some of the BEST around. Unions...go home and leave this great business continue to thrive. For those Starbucks employees who don't like their jobs...QUIT.
4-13-2007 @ 9:53PM
mediapusher said...
I don't go to Starbuck's anymore.. Why?
1. Their saturation of the market turns me off
2. They don't allow free internet access
3. If you just want to heat up your coffee, it's like asking the king to do it. They don't have microwaves for this purpose
4. Most of the ambient music they play sucks, and they don't even have the decency to have good sound systems for it
4-13-2007 @ 6:31PM
BaristaC said...
As far as I can tell, the whole union stuff with Starbucks is silly. As a Starbucks barista, myself, I feel no need. Sure, I'm underpaid...but that's the kind of job I'm working and can expect to work till I graduate from college. Compared to any similar job in my area, I started at more than a dollar above the expected hourly wage.
I suspect a large portion of the baristas don't take advantage of the benefits because they are still 3 years away from being dropped from their parent's insurance plans and don't feel the need for any of the other benefits offered. At least, that is the case at my store...
Maybe it's a different deal in New York. I have no idea. But from the perspective of someone who works at the most typical of Starbucks stores, it really doesn't seem necessary.