Starbucks Baristas Question Substance of National Shutdown for "Training"
Submitted on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 4:05pm
For Immediate Release:
IWW Starbucks Workers Union
February 26, 2008
Starbucks Baristas Question Substance of National Shutdown for "Training"
New York, NY- As Starbucks stores around the United States reopen after a three hour shutdown to train employees, baristas of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union are calling into question the efficacy of the event. Union baristas left the "training" feeling like it was a public relations event directed at consumers rather than a bona fide attempt to improve drink quality or customer service.
“The whole thing seemed a little silly to me,” said Starbucks barista Peter Montalbano on his way out of the training. “We supposedly learned how to build a latte ‘from the espresso up,’- but we’re still pulling shots from a push-button espresso machine and pouring them into paper cups for not much above the minimum wage. It’s difficult to imagine people really caring about crafting the ‘perfect cappuccino’ if they can’t even afford to pay their bills."
The union argues that the decline of customer service at Starbucks stems from understaffed and underpaid baristas, not a lack of training. To save on labor costs, Starbucks degraded all the barista jobs to part-time, low-wage positions and doesn't schedule enough workers to promptly meet customer demand. And while the world's largest coffee chain would like to
differentiate itself from McDonald's, it shares the burger giant's enormous animosity to labor unions.
Many baristas believe that the national shutdown was an attempt by recently returned CEO Howard Shultz to revamp the company’s decaying image after a plunging stock price, sluggish same-store sales numbers, and a leaked memo from Mr. Shultz himself about the watering-down of the “Starbucks Experience” threw the company into a tailspin.
"Howard Schultz should do something substantive to repair Starbucks rather than conveying the derogatory idea that we, the baristas, need to be retrained," said Cole Dorsey, a Starbucks employee in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “We already know how to make the
drinks and even if we didn't what good does this kind of training ultimately do? All the training in the world won’t matter if you don’t provide workers with the financial incentives to stay with the job for more than a few months. Come next year, the majority of people who attended won’t even be working for the company!”
The IWW Starbucks Workers Union is a grassroots organization of employees at the world's largest coffee chain united for secure work hours and a living wage. The union has members throughout the United States fighting for systemic change at the company and remedying individual grievances with management.
IWW baristas have fought successfully for improved scheduling and staffing levels, increased wages, and workplace safety. Workers who join the union have immediate access to co-workers and members of the community who will struggle with them for a better life on the job.
Originally posted here - http://www.starbucksunion.org/node/1970
Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/starbucksunion