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Workers at a Starbucks location in Seattle—the city where the coffee chain is headquartered—voted unanimously last Tuesday to unionize and became the sixth company-owned store out of about 9,000 in the U.S. to vote for the representation.
As we have long noted, the unionization effort started in Buffalo and has been embraced by employees at other locations who have complained about salaries, working conditions, and the treatment of senior employees. (See “STARBUCKS STORE TO UNIONIZE, A TOP TREND FOR 2022.”)
Starbucks has faced allegations of intimidating and even firing its pro-union workers. The coffee chain has already seen stores in Buffalo, N.Y., and Mesa, Ariz., vote to unionize.
CNBC reported that of the stores that have held a vote to unionize, all but one approved the push, which is an 88 percent win rate. The news website said current CEO Kevin Johnson has announced he will retire and Howard Schultz, the founder, will fill in until a new chief executive is tapped.
The company hopes that Schultz, a self-made billionaire raised in a federally subsidized housing project in Brooklyn, can connect with disenfranchised workers.
Schultz said in a letter to workers last week that the company has to take a look at itself, The New York Times reported. The Associated Press pointed out that Schultz, 68, managed to fight attempts to unionize at stores and roasting plants. The report said the company, in the early 2000s, was forced to rehire fired employees and settle labor law violations.
The CNBC report said six other locations in Seattle have filed for these elections. There are about 150 stores in 27 states that plan to hold a vote.
TREND FORECAST: The Trends Journal had forecast a shift to unionization after the COVID-19 War began, when major companies saw record profits and stock prices, while the vast majority of their employees toiled in low-paying jobs with little hope of career advancement. (See “UNIONIZATION: TOP TREND FOR 2022, ON-TREND,” “ACTIVISION STUDIO GROUP WILL FORM A UNION, SOLIDIFYING TRENDS JOURNAL FORECAST” and “SPOTLIGHT: WORKERS ON DEMAND.”)
‘Particular Significance’
Robert Reich, the former U.S. secretary of labor, tweeted that the unanimous vote at the Seattle location “holds particular significance” because it took place in the company’s hometown and is the first in the West to unionize.
The workers—who were represented by SB Workers United—voted 9-0 in favor of unionizing. The NYT pointed out that the Capitol Hill store—which is located on Broadway and Denny Way—is about a 10-minute drive from the company’s headquarters.
Starbucks Accused of Union Busting
Workers at several Starbucks locations accused the company of trying to intimidate pro-union employees, which is a charge the company has denied.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wrote Schultz an open letter that urged him to respect the Constitution and not to “illegally hamper the efforts of your employees to unionize.”
Sanders said that he is “deeply concerned” that the company “engaged in a massive union busting campaign” that was led by Johnson. Sanders accused the company of firing workers for “the crime” of being in favor of unionizing.
The alleged steps the company took to challenge these union votes range from reducing employee hours and repeatedly changing work schedules.
Sanders’ letter also pointed out that the National Labor Relations Board found that the company retaliated against two employees in Philadelphia and allegedly illegally surveilled union supporters in Phoenix.
Sanders said the company—which tries to present itself as progressive—has the financial footing to treat its employees better. The company increased its net income last year by 561 percent and last quarter its profits rose by 31 percent to $816 million.
“The reality is that Starbucks could give every one of its 383,000 workers a $5,000 bonus and still keep $2.5 billion in profits from last year without raising prices by one cent,” he wrote.
TRENDPOST: “Baristas?” Back in the day when someone worked at a soda fountain they were called “Soda Jerks.”
Baristas is a bullshit name given to “Coffee Jerks” by the BIGs so they make the plantation workers of Slavelandia feel as though they have a special talent and an important job. According to Indeed.com, “As of March 2022, the average hourly pay for a Starbucks “Barista” in the United States is $13.01 an hour.”
Starbucks announced in October that it will increase wages for baristas to at least $15 an hour by summer 2022, CNBC reported. The company made the announcement as restaurant chains found it challenging to find workers to slave in kitchens with no real hope for career advancements.
The Trends Journal has reported extensively on the country’s shift toward so-called gig economies and cheap labor. (See “SLAVELANDIA: RICH GET RICHER, POOR GET POORER” and “AMERICA: TAX/AUDIT ‘WE THE PEOPLE,’ NOT BILLIONAIRES.”)
Sydney Durkin, a worker at the Seattle store, told The Seattle Times that workers who worked for the company in the early days may have just stayed on while in college or worked for a few months, but there has been a shift.
“This is a signal for the larger food industry that it is changing and it is building toward something hopefully more sustainable,” Durkin said.
We’ve also pointed out that one of the results of the COVID-19 outbreak was that the rich got richer and the poor got poorer; 37.2 million Americans are living in poverty in the U.S., which marks a 3.3 million jump since 2019.
TREND FORECAST: Among the reasons there is a shortage of workers is that they no longer want to work for poverty level wages.
As Gerald Celente has long said, “When people lose everything and have nothing left to lose, they lose it.” Therefore, as socioeconomic conditions continue to deteriorate, “NEW WORLD DISORDER,” one of our 2020 Top Trends, will escalate as billions take to the streets, demonstrating against the lack of basic living standards, crime, violence, and government corruption.