SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh meet with labor organizers on May 5, 2022. (Photo: White House)
'Cry More': Starbucks Mocked for Complaining About Workers' White House Visit
"A company which has threatened and fired people now demands the president meet with them," responded one Starbucks worker. "Howard Schultz failed in his run for president, and now he thinks he can invite himself over."
May 06, 2022
Starbucks' union-busting management garnered little public sympathy Friday after it complained in a letter to the White House that labor organizers--including Laura Garza of Starbucks Workers United--were invited to meet with President Joe Biden but official company "representatives" weren't.
"We are deeply concerned that Workers United, which is actively engaged in collective bargaining with us and trying to organize all our stores and our +240,000 partners (employees), was invited to the meeting while not inviting official Starbucks representatives to discuss our view on the matter," A.J. Jones, senior vice president of global communications and public affairs at Starbucks, wrote in a letter to Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president.
The letter was made public a day after Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh met with several grassroots organizers--including Amazon Labor Union President Christian Smalls--in the Oval Office amid nationwide efforts by Starbucks and Amazon workers to unionize their workplaces in pursuit of better wages, benefits, and conditions.
Starbucks' complaints to the White House were met with widespread derision on social media, including from baristas and union organizers who have witnessed firsthand the company's aggressive and unlawful attacks on workers.
"A company which has threatened and fired people now demands the president meet with them," tweeted Buffalo barista Will Westlake, a member of the Starbucks Workers United Organizing Committee. "[Starbucks CEO] Howard Schultz failed in his run for president, and now he thinks he can invite himself over."
Joe Calvello, communications director for Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman, expressed a prevailing sentiment among progressives on Twitter in response to Starbucks' letter. "Cry more," he said.
More than 50 Starbucks locations across the U.S. have voted to unionize in recent weeks, riding a wave of organizing spurred by historic election wins in Buffalo late last year.
Since then, Starbucks management has waged a relentless union-busting campaign that, according to organizers and the National Labor Relations Board, has consisted of retaliating against workers involved with unionization efforts, captive-audience meetings, and other tactics.
During an earnings call last week, Schultz announced that Starbucks will soon be implementing wage increases and new benefits for employees across the U.S.--excluding those who have voted to unionize or are currently working toward a union election.
Starbucks union organizers argued that such a move would be unlawful.
"These benefits, including ones we've demanded since the beginning of our campaign, are a response to our organizing efforts and we should celebrate the hard work that partners who stood up to Howard Schultz's bullying put in to make this happen," the Starbucks Workers United Organizing Committee said in a statement following the CEO's comments.
"Many of the proposed benefits have been proposed at the bargaining table in Buffalo," the statement continued. "Starbucks Workers United has already filed charges over Starbucks' threats to exclude unionized stores from receiving these new benefits. This isn't how labor law works, and Starbucks knows that."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Starbucks' union-busting management garnered little public sympathy Friday after it complained in a letter to the White House that labor organizers--including Laura Garza of Starbucks Workers United--were invited to meet with President Joe Biden but official company "representatives" weren't.
"We are deeply concerned that Workers United, which is actively engaged in collective bargaining with us and trying to organize all our stores and our +240,000 partners (employees), was invited to the meeting while not inviting official Starbucks representatives to discuss our view on the matter," A.J. Jones, senior vice president of global communications and public affairs at Starbucks, wrote in a letter to Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president.
The letter was made public a day after Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh met with several grassroots organizers--including Amazon Labor Union President Christian Smalls--in the Oval Office amid nationwide efforts by Starbucks and Amazon workers to unionize their workplaces in pursuit of better wages, benefits, and conditions.
Starbucks' complaints to the White House were met with widespread derision on social media, including from baristas and union organizers who have witnessed firsthand the company's aggressive and unlawful attacks on workers.
"A company which has threatened and fired people now demands the president meet with them," tweeted Buffalo barista Will Westlake, a member of the Starbucks Workers United Organizing Committee. "[Starbucks CEO] Howard Schultz failed in his run for president, and now he thinks he can invite himself over."
Joe Calvello, communications director for Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman, expressed a prevailing sentiment among progressives on Twitter in response to Starbucks' letter. "Cry more," he said.
More than 50 Starbucks locations across the U.S. have voted to unionize in recent weeks, riding a wave of organizing spurred by historic election wins in Buffalo late last year.
Since then, Starbucks management has waged a relentless union-busting campaign that, according to organizers and the National Labor Relations Board, has consisted of retaliating against workers involved with unionization efforts, captive-audience meetings, and other tactics.
During an earnings call last week, Schultz announced that Starbucks will soon be implementing wage increases and new benefits for employees across the U.S.--excluding those who have voted to unionize or are currently working toward a union election.
Starbucks union organizers argued that such a move would be unlawful.
"These benefits, including ones we've demanded since the beginning of our campaign, are a response to our organizing efforts and we should celebrate the hard work that partners who stood up to Howard Schultz's bullying put in to make this happen," the Starbucks Workers United Organizing Committee said in a statement following the CEO's comments.
"Many of the proposed benefits have been proposed at the bargaining table in Buffalo," the statement continued. "Starbucks Workers United has already filed charges over Starbucks' threats to exclude unionized stores from receiving these new benefits. This isn't how labor law works, and Starbucks knows that."
Starbucks' union-busting management garnered little public sympathy Friday after it complained in a letter to the White House that labor organizers--including Laura Garza of Starbucks Workers United--were invited to meet with President Joe Biden but official company "representatives" weren't.
"We are deeply concerned that Workers United, which is actively engaged in collective bargaining with us and trying to organize all our stores and our +240,000 partners (employees), was invited to the meeting while not inviting official Starbucks representatives to discuss our view on the matter," A.J. Jones, senior vice president of global communications and public affairs at Starbucks, wrote in a letter to Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president.
The letter was made public a day after Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh met with several grassroots organizers--including Amazon Labor Union President Christian Smalls--in the Oval Office amid nationwide efforts by Starbucks and Amazon workers to unionize their workplaces in pursuit of better wages, benefits, and conditions.
Starbucks' complaints to the White House were met with widespread derision on social media, including from baristas and union organizers who have witnessed firsthand the company's aggressive and unlawful attacks on workers.
"A company which has threatened and fired people now demands the president meet with them," tweeted Buffalo barista Will Westlake, a member of the Starbucks Workers United Organizing Committee. "[Starbucks CEO] Howard Schultz failed in his run for president, and now he thinks he can invite himself over."
Joe Calvello, communications director for Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman, expressed a prevailing sentiment among progressives on Twitter in response to Starbucks' letter. "Cry more," he said.
More than 50 Starbucks locations across the U.S. have voted to unionize in recent weeks, riding a wave of organizing spurred by historic election wins in Buffalo late last year.
Since then, Starbucks management has waged a relentless union-busting campaign that, according to organizers and the National Labor Relations Board, has consisted of retaliating against workers involved with unionization efforts, captive-audience meetings, and other tactics.
During an earnings call last week, Schultz announced that Starbucks will soon be implementing wage increases and new benefits for employees across the U.S.--excluding those who have voted to unionize or are currently working toward a union election.
Starbucks union organizers argued that such a move would be unlawful.
"These benefits, including ones we've demanded since the beginning of our campaign, are a response to our organizing efforts and we should celebrate the hard work that partners who stood up to Howard Schultz's bullying put in to make this happen," the Starbucks Workers United Organizing Committee said in a statement following the CEO's comments.
"Many of the proposed benefits have been proposed at the bargaining table in Buffalo," the statement continued. "Starbucks Workers United has already filed charges over Starbucks' threats to exclude unionized stores from receiving these new benefits. This isn't how labor law works, and Starbucks knows that."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.