February, 13 2012, 02:12pm EDT
Consumers to Starbucks: Remove Forced Arbitration Language From Gift Cards
More Than 15,000 People Petition Coffee Giant to Stop Limiting Their Rights
SEATTLE
More than 15,000 people called on the Starbucks Coffee Corp. in a petition delivered Friday to remove from its prepaid cards' terms of service a forced arbitration clause and class-action ban that unfairly restricts its customers' legal rights. The petition, circulated by Public Citizen, follows a letter that the organization, along with three other public interest groups, sent to the coffee giant in December with the same request: stop limiting consumers' access to the courts.
Clauses in consumer contracts requiring that disputes be settled by forced arbitration have mushroomed in the past decade. These clauses shield corporations from accountability for wrongdoing. In forced arbitration, there is no impartial judge or jury to settle disputes, but rather a secretive proceeding run by arbitrators who rely on their corporate customers for repeat business.
"Forced arbitration and class bans eviscerate consumers' rights," said Christine Hines, consumer and civil justice counsel with Public Citizen. "Starbucks' decision to use them is inconsistent with the company's claim to be a leader in corporate social responsibility. Now, the people have spoken and they want their rights back."
"Starbucks' lead paralegal, to whom we delivered the petition, warned us that this would be a difficult fight to win and that we'd have to really make our voices heard to get above the cacophony of noises and complaints they receive," said Deborah Lapidus, a Public Citizen activist who delivered the petition. "However, he assured us that having 15,000 signatures meets the bar for the petitions to make it to the general counsel's desk and he said that the CEO would end up hearing about it too. Overall, Starbucks' staff was polite, listened and took our concerns seriously."
To see photos of the petition delivery, visit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/publiccitizen/sets/72157629303942459.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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As Senate Prepares for NDAA Vote, Progressive Caucus Says It Is 'Past Time' to Slash Pentagon Budget
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The Constitution vests Congress, not the president, with the power to declare war (though presidents have used military force without getting the OK from Congress on multiple occasions in modern history, according to the National Constitution Center).
During the Cold War, when nuclear weapons policy was produced, speed was seen as essential to deterrence, according to Jon Wolfsthal, the director of global risk at the Federation of American Scientists, who wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post last year that makes a similar argument to Markey and Lieu.
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"Amnesty International found that Israeli forces unlawfully struck residential buildings in the village of al-Ain in northern Bekaa on September 29, the village of Aitou in northern Lebanon on October 14, and in Baalbeck city on October 21," the rights group said. "Israeli forces also unlawfully attacked the municipal headquarters in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on October 16."
Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty's senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns, said in a statement that "these four attacks are emblematic of Israel's shocking disregard for civilian lives in Lebanon and their willingness to flout international law."
The September 29 attack "destroyed the house of the Syrian al-Shaar family, killing all nine members of the family who were sleeping inside," the report states.
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Survivor Jinane Hijazi told Amnesty: "I've lost everything; my entire family, my parents, my siblings, my daughter. I wish I had died that day too."
As the report notes:
A fragment of the munition found at the site of the attack was analyzed by an Amnesty International weapons expert and based upon its size, shape, and the scalloped edges of the heavy metal casing, identified as most likely a MK-80 series aerial bomb, which would mean it was at least a 500-pound bomb. The United States is the primary supplier of these types of munitions to Israel.
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Guevara Rosas said: "These attacks must be investigated as war crimes. The Lebanese government must urgently call for a special session at the U.N. Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigative mechanism into the alleged violations and crimes committed by all parties in this conflict. It must also grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over Rome Statute crimes committed on Lebanese territory."
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