Starbucks officials refuse to talk to reporter about workers' complaints

Even part-time workers can get medical, dental and vision insurance coverage, so what's their problem?
Daniel Gross, who is leading attempts to organize a baristas union, says part-time Starbucks workers get benefits only if they work 20 hours a week, which isn't guaranteed. And when they do get benefits, they must pay for them. That cost is especially difficult when baristas are paid $7.75 an hour, $2.60 over the minimum wage, he says. But the worst problem that baristas suffer, reports Tania Padgett of Newsday, is the repetitive motion injuries caused by the coffee-making movements. (Newsday)
> Benefits for part-timers? Nearly 8-bucks an hour? Many say Starbucks workers have it good and don't need a union. What do you think? Hit the comments link.

Comments

[Nina]

I had the grandest time reading all the stories of you baristas defending Starbucks just because Starbucks isn't horrible to it's employees. I don't agree with the philosophy of "You don't have it at rock bottom, so be happy." Just because Starbucks gives it's partners what they deserve as human beings does not grant the company sainthood. I have worked for Starbucks (corporate stores)in San Diego for 2 years and I can tell you it's the same quality and care of the customers as any other customer service place. No better.
No the machines are not properly maintained and cleaned, one of my stores had to wait 3 months before the tech guy even came to look at it, I have watched barisas use steam wands that are crusted with black dried on milk. I have watched barista improperly (if all all) clean the machines or even vaccum out the beans (this means you are paying for stale, non quality beans). Some baristas regularly use dirty towels to wipe the steam wands over and over all day long(remember, this is used to steam the milk you drink). Plently of baristas use black shots (this means they are expired, they have been sitting there for up to a minute sometimes, this is why your espresso drink tastes so BAD) and when I have told them they shouldn't do that, they say "I don't care, I'm not drinking it."
I know of a shift supervisor that never rinses his milk pitchers, he will pour cold milk into 120 degree milk (pretty much that means he is cultivating a bacteria colony in your beverage!) and re steam milk at any temperature and more than once. How does that make you feel? This is just the tip of the iceberg.
I have witnessed contageous sick baristas put on bar because the shift supervisor doesn't want to have him/her assign a till because that's more work for the shift at the end of the night.
I wasn't allowed to go home when I had the flu because no one else could come in for an opening shift and they would rather spread the flu in the community than close the store for 2 hours.
My point is that there are standards that are SUPPOSED to be followed and Starbucks brags about the consistency! HA I have worked at different stores within one zip code and each store is completely different. It's up to the baristas to uphold the standards and sadly, in every store, there is at least one person who just doesn't CARE.
Starbucks cares more about whether you get your drink in less than 3 minutes than if it tastes good. I put my two weeks notice in just the other day because I refuse to work for such a hypocritical company as Starbucks.
I laugh at the fact the Starbucks says the are all about the enviornment (just beacuse you practice a few eco friendly procedures DOES NOT excuse you from the fact that you are still contibuting largely to the demise of this planet). When myself and a shift supervisor asked the district manager if we could close the store early one day (there was no supervisor scheduled to close) because we wouldn't get our lunch breaks and for 4 hours the numbers were first hour: 2 customers, 2nd hour: 4 customers and so on he said no. AND there is another Starbucks in every direction just about 2 blocks away. So it's okay to waste electricity to sun all that equipment JUST IN CASE. They don't care about the enviornment, just the $. I could say so much more, but I don't think there is enough room.

[BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL]

I know that alot of stores don't uphold standards. Many times, its basically because they lack an understanding of basic social concepts such as, I just paid money for you to make a quality drink. Wow, what a fracking concept there, people paying for a quality product. No way!
DO ONTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO ONTO YOU!
Confucius says, "Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you"

Do onto others before they do unto you.

BOSTON STARBUCKS REBEL
PRIMUS INTER PARES
STARBUCKS REBEL ALLIANCE
AIM SN: BOSTONSTARREBEL

[nina]

EXCATLY! To me, what was most important is that my customers received a great tasting drink. They are handing us dollars/sbux cards/credit cards ULTIMATELY to get a beverage in return. One of my ASMs found mopping the mats 3 times in one hour more important than making tasty drinks. Yes, some people have no one so Starbucks is there to make them feel like they actually have friends/family.
But you know what, maybe there is a reason that person doesn't have any real friends besides sbux partners (I disagree with the term because I have no say in anything that goes on...how am I a partner) and they have personal problems they need to deal with. I'm sorry but almost all of the regulars at my old store ended up becoming a problem because they stopped everyone from getting anything done and the closers were left having to do opening/mid/and closing duties while trying to find a nice way to tell this regular who has been at the store for 12 hours now that I have work to do and I can't just stand here and listen to you talk. They even follow you to the bathroom to keep talking to you. Then the shifts have unrealistic goals when they ask you to do a quick spin and get mad at YOU when a customer keeps stopping you. My point is legendary service/speedy service/and standards cannot happen at the same time.

[Bill]

I am a Starbucks customer raised in a union family. My father was a steel worker back in the 1950s. Unions can be of great benefit to the worker---provided that they are not run by gangsters and racketeers such as those who muscled their way into the Teamsters' Union. The criminal element is what destroyed America's faith in unions in the first place.

Now, of course we have George W Bush's anti-"the little guy" policies fouling the atmosphere in the USA. Right now, and most likely, for some time to come, the United States Supreme Court routinely rules against any employee with a grievance, however legitimate. The Roberts Court automatically sides with corporate management. And thanks to the fact that all mainstream media in America are owned by a handful of right wing extremists, the very air is rife with propaganda from the RNC Noise Machine. In this era of Karl Rove and GWBush, and Dick Cheney, anything that is pro *the little guy* is immediately labelled Marxist.

Bottom line is Management is nobody's friend. Never was. The fact that you now work in clean, sanitary conditions is the result of long, hard struggle with management. Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, management has done everything it could to exploit workers. We still have companies, I have worked for some of them, which expect people to work 16-20 hours a day; and which have policies that say, but not in so many words, "If you don't come in Sunday, dont come in Monday." In reality, the wealthy, themselves, created Marxism due to overweening greed, i.e. the desire to maximise profits at the expense of workers' health and welfare. The recent coal mine tragedies where men died in collapsed mines were due to lax managerial oversight and the custom of firing workers who complained about conditions. Those men's deaths have underscored how fatal it is to workers when management is allowed to engage in union busting. The Bush administration has, from its very first day, promoted the weakening of unions. And Bush and his minions supported the coal mine owners against the workers--- until investigations showed what had been going on. But those investigations didn't get a lot of publicity since the president doesn't like to be seen with egg on his face.

By the way, some of the posts on here are obviously written by management. They tend to be the ones who say things like: If you don't like working here, go work someplace else. A standard management response. And if they were not written by management then they were written by people whose minds have been scrubbed and then filled with ideas that are injurious to themselves. They identify with their oppressors. A common trait in the "authoritarian" personality.

Starbucks charges truly exorbitant prices for a cup of coffee. Therefore, they need to do everything necessary to guarantee that cup of coffee is superior to any other, and that includes insuring that each and every employee is well taken care of. One thing about unions is that they work both ways. The workers legitimate demands must be met--- but management then has the right to demand baristas consistently make a superior cup of coffee (from first rate beans, of course.) Union workers need to be proud of their work--- And unions must guarantee the highest quality work, and baristas should be eager to make a career of offering a great cup of coffee.

[HI]

HI......IM OVERWIEGHT 200 LBS TO BE EXACT IM 45....I CURRENTLY WORK IN A FAST FOOD JOINT(MY FAMILIES THO), and thiers no insurance. I have diabetes hibld press and a nevus in my eye that if worsens could go to my brain. I need to go to the eye hospital......but im not sure with my bad bad memeory i coudl do starbucks........my question is .......how hard is it to memorize all that tall latte stuff........thanks i ned insurance in florida........ happy holidays.....

[Fed up Barista]

I AM a barista at Startucks , a million dollar store, and have had to suffer age discrimination, been accused of stealing, when in actuality it was the store manager and his corney he hired to be shift, put up with young kids who don't care, won't show up, and don't work but are in tight with the "young shifts", have not had a performance review in 3.5 years, our insurance is more like $40 plus every two weeks and will only cover generics at 25.00 per presct., we have had no frappacino mix for 2.5 weeks, no tall cups for three days, no lids, no CBB for two days, and for several weeks no muffins and no scones. Our new manager just left over two weeks ago and the assistant manager 'running' the store just does not order, nor did she when he was there. The drinks are inconsistent, I myself have returned drinks within the past few weeks, the store is filthy, the men's bathroom locked because no one will clean it on the night shift, and after over 3.5 years of this I can't get the hours consistently to keep insurance from quarter to quarter because the hours go on a buddy system in the young crown that has holiday parties and don't bother to invite the "older" employees.

I have nother against youth, I love them. But the kind of treatment dished out in this store and others here is disgusting, degrading and I believe unlawful.

So why don't I just leave????? I am disabled and I have to work. Anybody understand that? I can well see why the unions have got their foot in the door in these stores and if asked to vote for one, I most assuredly would be found passing outn cards for them on the corner.

By the way, after over 3.5 years I am still at 7.90 per hour and becuase I am one of the "higher" paid at this store I get my shifts cut and sent home early at every opportunity because you know "manpower hours" cuts into management's bonus money they get quarterly. I have called corp headquarters, time after time, and only on one occasion did I get some kind of response. Now I know what you naresayers are thinking....I am justa bad employee----well you are wrong. I open when nobody else shows up, I wait for the shift who on frequent occasions just does not show, I have been passed up for shift promotion by the "youth" and promised the next opening only to find that the then boss, sent someone to another store she had just hired to get her trained for a shift position and brought her back so I would not file an EEOC suite. I could go on but I bet you get the picture. YOu have to kiss behinds here to get your hours or hang out, smoke pot with, or take pain pills with them to get hours. Pot pipe is in thelocker in the back. I have been suspended for having nail polish on for three days when three others had bright colors, one of them green-grass gree- polish on. Mine were done in american polish-short and square. EEOC here I come................

[Disgruntled employee]

You want to hear something truly shitty. I WORK for Starbucks, shattered my tooth on one of their donuts that had a ROCK in it (while sampling during one of their routine coffee tastings) and am now being refused worker's comp. I paid just under a thousand bucks to fix this and will NOT be paid back!! Considering this donut would have actually gone to the public, I think this is highly unfair. However, you try explaining THAT to a huge corporation like Starbucks that does nothing but take advantage of the little guy.
And, trust me. I would know. Remember, I work there!! ...hopefully not for much longer when I file suit.
Bastards. Don't believe any poles that say it's a great place to work for. Completely bias.

[Holly Ortiz]

What I think all of you Starbucks employees fail to recognize is that Starbucks is a MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR CORPORATION that makes a good majority of it's money exploiting impoverished people in other countries or Americans working paycheck to paycheck. How much money do you think Howard Shultz is making?!

I don't really have as big of an issue with barista pay because part-time food service is not a money-making endeavor. My problem is with the fact that my ASM can't afford to support his family on what he makes and has been working for the company for 7 years! He has almost no debt, 1 car, and rents an apartment with his wife and baby. In a company that is making so much money why isn't he compensated fairly. It makes me sick to get these pep talks about passion and pride when I see the upper achelon getting rich and the rest of us in the company just getting by. Is it better than alot of jobs? Sure....but is that the only standard we set for the global corporate machine. Keep the masses just satisfied and dependent enough so that they will keep quiet.

[Dana]

I really enjoy my job at Starbucks. The work is very hard and the standards are extremely high. The only problem I have encountered is the insurance issue. Yes Starbucks offers benefits for 20 hours a week but there is such a short window to enroll. If you are not informed of this window you have to wait almost an entire year to enroll. I have a hard time understanding how you can be benefits eligable but not eligable to enroll. I started toward the end of June and in September I was told that I had started so close to the deadline that I would receive this "Benefit Package" in December for Jan.1 benefits and when I called the Benefits Center I was told that I had missed the window and had to wait until August 2009. The gal asked me to have my store manager call the center so that this would not happen to any other employees but as for me there is nothing that can be done.

[Dana]

I have contacted an attorney due to the fact that Starbucks has refused to give me my insurance. I failed to understand their idea that I am insurance eligable but not eligable for insurance. I was recently diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer and time is of the essence. I can not wait for them to sit down drinking their lattes and decide whether or not they will give me the insurance that I have worked for. I am not asking for special treatment I am asking that I get the insurance that I have worked for. If any other partners have gone through a similar situation with Starbucks please contact corp.to make a complaint.

[layann]

can i be 15 to work at starbucks because i really need it because my mom and dad is not getting that much money write back to me

[dd]

I would just like to say that I am a former barista, and I have been DYING to get back into the company, mostly because of the benefits.
I worked part time as a barista in a fairly small town, so my pay was around the $7.25-$8.75 area throughout the 2 years I worked there. I paid about $60 a month for better health coverage than I knew was possible. I had basically full dental, vision, and health. When I had an appointment, the cost of my appointment and my $200 glasses were almost completely covered by insurance.
Also, I had a friend who was enrolled in an eating disorder facility where I was also employed, part-time to supplement my starbucks paycheck (which wasn't extremely necessary, as I never had trouble making ends meet). She was from Texas, and also worked with Starbucks. She and I bonded over the fact that we were both baristas, but in 2 separate states. She then informed me that Starbucks had completely paid for her in-patient treatment here, in Indiana (far from Texas). She had the same healthcare plan I did.
Not to mention the numerous places discounts are given on non-Starbucks related companies, all by swiping the trusty partner card where applicable, the 30% discount given to partners for all retail, food, and drink items, which can turn into a bigger percentage when certain sales are going on (i.e. brewsale, where you're allowed to receive the discounted price available to the general public, and ALSO add your partner discount on top of that). Baristas and shift supervisors receive weekly markouts (either 1 lb of retail coffee or 1 box of retail tea) which can cost the company anywhere from $5-$18 a pop.
Right now, I'm working for Manpower, a desk-sitting, nerve-killing, $10/hour paying, full time (often overtime required), inconsistent (policy-wise)temp agency with no health insurance, as it cost twice as much as Starbucks and covers less than half of what Starbucks covers. Funny thing is, both companies are covered through the insurance company, Aetna.
The bottom line is:
Starbucks is a company who is more than caring to its huge number of employees. Not only do they give and give and give to their staff, they also give and give to the community as well.
If someone is unhappy about the benefits through Starbucks, he should try working fast food.