“I was convinced that under my leadership, employees would come to realize that I would listen to their concerns… If they had faith in me and my motives, they wouldn’t need a union.” ~ Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, Howard Schultz & Dori Jones Yang, Hyperion, 1997
A Starbucks representative told 24 Hour News 8 they consider their employees partners and “respect our partners right to organize, but believe that they would not find it necessary given our pro-partner environment.”
The Global Day of Action Against Starbucks on July 5, 2008, while extensive — involving protests in approximately 17 countries and almost 50 cities — garnered almost no corporate/state media attention. The protests were sparked by Starbucks firing two union members. On April 24, 2008, Mónica, a barista and employee in Seville, Spain; and on June 6, Cole Dorsey, a barista and employee in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.
GR Starbucks employee firing triggers global protests
July 6, 2008Kentwood, Mich. (WOOD) – Western Michigan is in the center of a series of global demonstrations against Starbucks after a local employee was fired for union activity. Workers picketed a Kentwood Starbucks store Saturday afternoon in response to two union related firings by the coffee giant, one in Spain, and one right here in West Michigan. Cole Dorsey, an East Grand Rapids barista, worked for the company for two years, and was considered a stellar employee, until he was fired the day Starbucks discovered he was in a union. Starbucks would not reveal any specifics about why Dorsey was fired. Leaders of the protest say Starbucks has been firing outspoken union baristas ever since the start of the International Workers of the World Starbucks Workers Union in 2004. Dorsey who was present at the Kentwood protest, hopes to alter how Starbucks pays and treats it’s coffee growers and baristas. “If they see this global solidarity of people that are angry throughout the world they might have to reconsider how many stores they can open,” he told 24 Hour News 8 Reporter Jessica Leffler. A Starbucks representative told 24 Hour News 8 they consider their employees partners and “respect our partners right to organize, but believe that they would not find it necessary given our pro-partner environment.”
The protests took place in Argentina, Australia (Melbourne), Austria (Vienna), Chile, France, Germany (Aachen, Berlin, Bonn, Braunschweig, Bremen, Darmstadt, Dortmund, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt/Main, Hamburg, München, Münster, Nürnberg, Stuttgart and Wuppertal), Ireland (Belfast, Dublin), Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland (Wroclaw), Portugal, Russia (Moscow), Serbia, Slovakia, Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Valencia), the UK (Birmingham, Brighton, London) and the USA (Boston, MA, Burlington, VT, Chicago, IL, Fresno, CA, Grand Rapids, MI, Los Angeles, CA, New York City, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Phoenix, AZ, Rochester, NY, Salt Lake City, UT, Tempe, AZ).
In Australia, PR for Starbucks is handled by Porter Novelli, a subsidiary of Clemenger Communications, Australasia’s largest PR firm.
See also : Melbourne Starbucks Action, July 5, 2008 | Global Day of Action Against Starbucks : July 5, 2008 | Global Day of Action website | Grand Rapids Starbucks Workers Union (IWW) | Sección Sindical en Starbucks. CNT-AIT | Union struggles to reach, recruit Starbucks workers, Melissa Allison, Seattle Times, January 4, 2007
61 out of 84 Australian Starbucks stores to close in line with international downsizing.
According to one Lygon St employee, workers were given less than a weeks notice, though management knew the stores would be closing a fortnight ago.
Employees report that their redundancies would be affected if they spoke to the media.
61 down, 23 to go…
Btw, contra Peter Smith in Sydney, I blame greedy workers* for Starfucks’ demise, not its being “snubbed by many Australians who have grown up on a diet of quality European-style coffee introduced into the country by immigrants, particularly from Italy, last century”.
*With the exception of the hard-working corporate executives such as Howard D. Schultz. The man is being worked to death, and deserves every single one of the billions upon billions of pennies he will receive whenever it is he chooses to retire:
It’s pretty amazing that their stores in Melbourne are staying open at all; the ones I have seen have been in very high-rent locales next to places with superior coffee and not much traffic (I see more people getting coffee at Magnation and Gloria Jeans). Why would you go to fucking Starbucks in Melbourne? The idea weirds me out. It’s like being in Italy and going to McDonalds or something.
In the Swanston St stores, it’s mostly tourists and the uninitiated from the looks of things – the alternative is that they’re locals who are there for the taste of the damned stuff. That latter possibility doesn’t seem likely. These flagship stores are the ones staying open, so I read.
Yeah: as far as I can determine, Starfucks in the major cities (Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney) depend on the tourist trade, supplemented by a (much) smaller number of local consumers. It’s quite possible, I think, that the flagships will survive, and even prosper, in the longer-term. Given that Starfucks was only established in Australia 8 or so years ago, one would assume that some consideration was given to these sorts of possibilities (that is, closures). Further, the expansion and then contraction of the number of Starfucks makes sense in the sense that it allows for the eradication of whatever rivals are unable to survive the competition, while allowing the corporation to better ascertain which markets are viable and which not. Also, any successful business model is likely to spawn imitators, so that, over time, the possibility of employing such methodologies becomes less possible, as whatever gaps there are in the generic trade of coffee are filled by competitors such as Gloria Jeans/Hillsong, et cetera.
Good riddance. Their coffee tasted like crap anyway.
The five smellbourne stores to remain open will be the ones on Swanston St, Collins St, Glenferrie Centre (Hawthorn), smellbourne airport and Bourke St. The other 16 Victorian stores will be closed by the end of the week.
Sweet.
It’s totally awesome that media enquiries are being handled by
employeespartners at Edelman. Edelman claims to have pioneered environmental PR in 1991 with dolphin-friendly tuna. It’s also developed a totally awesome thing called ‘The Relationship Imperative’:Oddly, Edelman was responsible for developing a PR stunt for French corporation Vivendi in 2001 in which it promised to spend a few million Euros tidying up Antarctica. Subsequently, Vivendi became Veolia Environnement, the world’s largest water company; in 2007, it had revenues of $47bn and employed around 300,000 people. Veolia also — and here’s the odd bit — owns Connex, and is thus responsible for overseeing our shithouse public transport system.
Nic Jarvis, one of the corporate flacks responsible for handling the media crisis/circus that likely won’t emerge as a result of Starfucks dismissing its “partners”, is part of the Edelman ‘Issues & Crisis Management’ Team. Their remit is interesting:
Amanda Little, Managing Director of Edelman, writes: Re: “Tips and rumours” (yesterday, item 7). Since someone’s obviously unduly concerned about the mechanics behind the Starbucks announcement, the facts below should allay their concerns (and those of any other readers) and put the matter to rest:
1. Regarding the media release — to ensure media information is coordinated with information given to other stakeholders (including employees [I think Amanda means ‘partners’], regulators and share markets) it is common practice — in fact in many instance legally prudent — to ensure head office has input;
2. The reason another PR firm is listed on the Starbucks website is that the firm in question is the PR company that assists Starbucks in Australia with their daily campaigns. Edelman Australia was engaged to assist with this announcement.
3. Starbucks employees in Australia are not union members.
4. Edelman contacted relevant members of Parliament about the matter for their information. Most of your readers will know that the Lobbyist register is for those who, “contact Government representatives for the purpose of lobbying activities”. According to the register, “lobbying activities means communications with a Government representative in an effort to influence Government decision-making.” It does not include, “statements made in a public forum”. Contact was made as an FYI courtesy — not to lobby. Therefore no code was broken.
Source: Crikey, July 31, 2008
Little was previously
employed byenjoyed a partnership with Burson-Marsteller:Companies find it harder to stifle criticism, Paul Hardwin, Sydney Indymedia, December 19, 2002
Burson-Marsteller Hires a Green ‘Cash Cow’, PR Watch, Vol.9, No.1, First Quarter 2002
Correction: Burson-Marsteller and the Global Climate Coalition, PR Watch, Vol.8, No.3, Third Quarter 2001
“Amanda’s favorite food is salmon sushi. She thinks making changes is going to save our planet and is inspired by Al Gore because he is dedicated to saving the planet and is an incredible change agent, as well as her four year daughter because she represents the future and is full of unbiased joy.”
Sharon Beder, ‘Corporate propaganda and global capitalism – Selling free enterprise?’ (2005) [PDF]
worry you not, the crashing economy will take care of this union busting company soon enough.