The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has announced that is considering filing a complaint against Starbucks over charges filed by the Industrial Workers of the World's (IWW) Starbucks Workers Union. The charges included accusations threatening baristas with termination for union activities and denying access to the store bulletin to union organizers at Starbucks Wealthy Street store in East Grand Rapids. The NLRB is also investigating whether or not Starbucks is violating the terms of its 2006 settlement with the union. Starbucks has been given until September 28 to decide whether to settle the case or to hold an NLRB trial.
The news in Grand Rapids comes as Starbucks continues to face ongoing legal proceedings in New York City. Starbucks is defending itself at an NLRB trial against thirty-two counts of illegally stifling union organizing. At the same time, Starbucks recently suffered a legal setback when a judge refused to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed by Starbucks managers who argue that they should be eligible for overtime pay because they perform similar tasks to baristas. According to Business Week, a ruling in the managers' favor could cost Starbucks "tens of millions of dollars" in wages, damages, and legal fees.
Starbucks is aggressively trying to defend its labor practices against both legal challenges and the ongoing organizing efforts of the Starbucks Workers Union. The Union argues that Starbucks starting pay rate for a barista--$7.75 per hour--is not a livable wage. Similarly, baristas are not allowed full time status so they are not guaranteed a specific number of hours per pay period. Only 42% of the company's baristas are covered by the company's health insurance plan, a number that is even less than the 47% rate at Wal-Mart. Despite this, Starbucks continues to claim that it is "recognized as a best place to work because we have made treating our partners with respect and dignity our number one guiding principle."
As part of an overall effort to create the impression that Starbucks is synonymous with the values of "respect" and "dignity," the company has aggressively marketed the idea that its coffee is "socially responsible." However, the Starbucks Workers Union has long argued that the company is failing to pass its profits along to the farmers that grow its coffee. These charges have been confirmed in an investigative report published this week in the Sacramento Bee continues to pay farmers in Ethiopia about a dollar per day. Moreover, the building projects frequently touted by Starbucks in the developing world--schools, bridges, and other such projects--are no substitute for fair wages and indeed at least one farmer interviewed in the article indicated that the community would rather have the money to build their own infrastructure.
