The Seattle-based coffee company is literally everywhere in New York City. The stores can be seen from almost any spot in the city. Setting aside the issue of corporate over-development versus local businesses for a second, lets take a look at how they treat their employees. Starbucks is going to have to defend itself in front of the New York Labor Relations Board for allegedly intimidating activists at four different locations in Manhattan.
From 1010 WINS:
An NLB trial looking into the matter began yesterday, with some of the peeved baristas showing up to express their anger about the Seattle-based company's labor practices.
The board says the company fired pro-union employees, banned workers from wearing union pins and gave unfair negative performance reviews.
The coffee company could be asked to reinstate fired employees and publicly state it will not try to break unions if it is found guilty at the hearing.
A spokeswoman for the coffee giant said the claims are baseless. Of course the board will answer that question. Starbucks claims to treat their employees great, so why no unionizing? Why would employees talk about horror stories like these? Starbucks acts like any other retail giant by giving employees limited work hours to avoid dealing with overtime as well as keeping them disorganized.
While Bush fights against labor for his corporate buddies, unions are still legal entities in this country. They have been the force that has afforded Americans a decent wage and safe working conditions. Even in the sanitized retail world that consumers see, there is an ugly side to any company that puts profits above their workers.
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