In a town hall with organizing Starbucks workers on Wednesday night, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) highlighted the corporation’s greed and praised the workers for their “courage” in standing up to the company’s union busting.
“We live in a country today where a lot of people are hurting, they feel powerless. And what you are doing is addressing that by bringing people together to stand up for justice,” Sanders said. “And you, I want to say, are an inspiration to many of us.”
Starbucks workers were faced with a fierce union-busting campaignBy the company, which has been forcing employees attend anti-union meetings. using legal delay tactics Fire organizing employees. Despite these tactics, more than 100 stores in 26 States have filed for union representation in the past few months. New filings are flooding in every other week.
Although the company refers to employees as ‘partners’, workers say that they have been treated as anything but. Workers complain about low wages and unsafe working conditions caused by COVID. The company refuses to address these concerns. The company has since hired over 30 union-busting attorneys from the notorious anti-union firm Littler Mendelson.
Sanders pointed out that while the company refuses to listen to its employees’ concerns, it is raking in record profits and rewarding executives and shareholders handsomely. “You’re dealing with a very wealthy corporation spending millions trying to crush the union organizing effort that is taking place all over this country,” the senator said.
Sanders claimed that Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, was $1.2 billion wealthier during the pandemic. Last year, Kevin Johnson was named CEO. a 39 percent pay raiseHis total compensation now exceeds $20 million. Meanwhile, the company’s revenues grewThe fourth quarter of 2021 saw a 31% increase, while the previous two years saw a 22 percent increase.
Organizers at the town hall shared their experiences working at Starbucks, highlighting the company’s union busting.
“Instead of investing in their workers that make this company so successful, they’re investing millions in an anti-worker, anti-union campaign,” said Kylah Clay, a barista and organizer in Boston. “But this should come as no surprise given the company’s longstanding opposition to workers’ empowerment. Since the 1980s, Starbucks has deployed million dollar anti-union legal teams to pressure their so-called partners out of exercising their rights to unionize.”
The company often touts benefits like retirement funds and discounted vacations as reasons that workers don’t need to form a union, but the benefits can be so expensive that workers can’t even use them.
“Even for those of us who have the privilege to take advantage of some of the benefits, all of these dazzling benefits that Starbucks does offer can’t be taken advantage of due to the lack of wages,” said Len Harris, a Denver worker and organizer. Harris once tried to contribute to a 401(k) offered by the company, but couldn’t afford to pay rent with the contribution.
Harris said that tenured employees are not eligible for advancement at the company. Harris stated that employees who have worked for years earn only 63c less than those who were just hired.
Sanders noted that part of the reason the labor market is surging right now is because young people face more hardship on the job market than the previous generations.
“Your generation has had it tough, to be honest with you. You are earning less than your parents, even though you have more education. Many of you are struggling with student debt,” he said. “What you guys are doing is breaking new ground … having the courage to take on a very, very powerful corporation.”
