Same-Sex Marriage Bill REJECTED in New York State Senate
Video: Times Square Obama Afghanistan Protest Arrests
Catholic League Pissed at PETA
New Photo Brings Flying Overweight Debate Back
Live Video: Same-Sex Marriage Debate in State Senate
About a dozen current and former Starbucks employees protested outside the Union Square Starbucks last night, demanding that management reinstate fired barista Sharon Bell. Managers say they terminated Bell last week because of tardiness and attendance issues, but she says its actually retaliation for her involvement in the Starbucks Workers Union. Two other fellow union members were also fired recently, though one was reinstated. In December, a National Labor Relations Board judge found the company guilty of union busting and ordered several employees reinstated with back wages. According to the Seattle PI, the court documents read "like a reality-TV script, revealing Starbucks baristas and managers yelling at each other, mishandling blenders and cursing." One incident at the East 9th Street Starbucks almost came to blows, with a barista telling a manager, "You can go f*** yourself, if you want to f*** me up, go ahead, I'm here." Photo courtesy Benjamin Ferguson.
Starbucks Baristas Protest in Union Square
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebookComments (43) [rss]
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
Tips
Newsmap
Contribute
McDonald's coffee is better
It's only hotter.
Note to Baristas: You already get health insurance and tuition reimbursement, which is unheard of for part-time employers. What do you think a union is going to get you? Probably nothing but more layoffs.
make coffee at home-put all of these idiots out of work
I second the motion
So what? Since when is it the obligation of a business to re-hire unruly and incompetent employees?
Couldn't they just.. y'know.. work somewhere else?
Like, y'know it's not that easy to run out and get another job sometimes. And they should, y'know fight for what they want and junk.
Careful, Spiritof76 might get mad at us, y'know..
@longacre -
A union would also give them the ability to take home less money because of union dues, and would also force them to strike when the union heads think it best. And in this economy, I'm sure there's lots of other employers hiring with equivalent benefits. Right?
"would also force them to strike when the union heads think it best. "
Most, if not all, strikes are voted on by the union body. For recent examples see: WGA strike, (possible) SAG strike, UTW strike, UAW strike..
Politburo,
Ever heard of card checks and voter intimidation?
The union leaders and president will do whatever the fuck they want. Unions are anti-American and actually take away your rights. Liberal dogma has this one all wrong.
BC, you didn't actually dispute that strikes are voted on by the union body. If you want to assert that the outcome of those votes are the result of intimidation, some evidence would need to presented. Right now you just have a collection of RW talking points ("anti-American"? Grow up)
As to the WGA strike, ER, those people were absolutely not in the same position after the strike. They won the residuals that they wanted from the studios, which was the point of the whole thing. And unless you're in the industry (I'm not), I'm not sure what "trouble" the WGA strike put "us" through.
Grow up? I think you and your naive view of the world should grow up. People work in their self-interests. For many unions, you have nepotism, legacies, and tenure trumping individual sovereignty. And this results in intimidation. To not address that is dishonest as studies and polls show that it's a major concern amongst members. It's not just what could be a physical threat, it's the implied threats that are mentally abusive.
But I didn't dispute it because it's moot if people are having their votes altered in some way. When blacks were faced with intimidation and poll taxes in the south, would it have been "immature" of me to mention that "Hey! Maybe these people are getting screwed!"
But continue the liberal dogma you preach on this board. You and Ides are one in the same really---so wrapped up in your partisan talking points and beliefs that you can't acknowledge alternative thoughts.
Card check, especially, is immoral, anti-American, and will continue to cannibalize unions.
You've added another assertion without evidence: that union votes are altered.
You make the assumption that because I pointed out a few facts about unions and the WGA strike (and generally hold a liberal view), that I think unions can do no wrong. That is not the case. I am also not claiming there is no intimidation whatsoever. What I'm saying is that you have to provide something -- anything -- to support your claim.
As far as dogma, what I support is self-determination. If workers want a union, fine. If they don't, fine. (This does result in tyranny of the majority, but that is unavoidable in many situations) If their choice (or non-choice) of a union results in a negative consequence, so be it (as long as that consequence is within the law). I find it amusing that you attack me about dogma, but you are dogmatic in your views on card check and unions.
I simply haven't seen any indication that there is some large group of people in unions that are being held hostage by a few union bosses, as you claim. In relation to current events, I haven't seen any stories about autoworkers attacking the union and/or blaming them for the current problems. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, so if I'm incorrect, which is certainly possible, a simple link will suffice. Personal attacks and hand-waving do not.
The UAW is a situation where everybody is pretty much in the same boat. SAG and the Writers Guild is not. In those organizations there are the few at the top making huge money while the rest make middling amounts or next to nothing. Unfortunately, the well-off run those unions and want to stick it to the studios - despite the fact that many of them make more than the studio heads. And whenever their strikes end the people are in virtually the same position they were - except now they haven't worked in three to six months. Maybe they could save us all the trouble and have the rich actors take a pay cut. Or start their own studio. Let them risk their own capital.
I worked at starbucks for 3 years. One of the better jobs you can get at that experience/pay level. I find it ridiculous that people protest their work conditions. It's one of the better companies to work for.
yeah they will get a lot of sympathy these days
most "baristas" i had the pleasure of interacting with don't have a clue about customer service. granted it may be a shitty job but deal with it or find a new one, you are already generously compensated.
I find it amusing that they have this huge tip container staring you in the face when you just paid $7 for a cup of coffee. What did they do that was so beneficial to the customer who just paid four times what the product was worth?
a. the good baristas actually do a lot to ensure a good drink (trust me, there is a lot a bad one can do to screw it up, either accidentally or on purpose)
b. what about tipping for a beer that gets cracked open in mere seconds and receives an almost obligatory $1 tip?
I do tip for a true "bar ista." He or she has to put up with me for the time it takes me to drink a beer. Not the same for a Starbuck barista.
1.) it is really hard to pay $7 for any Starbucks drink
2.) if people decide to stay, the baristas do have to deal with them and their mess later.
Holy shit a whole dozen people showed up??
One good outcome of the current economic situation...
Less Starbucks Stores
Fewer. But, yeah, I wouldn't mourn the closing of either (or both) Starbucks within a block from my office. Maybe Monster.com can open another job fair outpost in the empty storefront.
Starbucks coffee is just awful. The customer service is atrocious at best. The really busy ones, the ones with bewildered tourists, bums and trolls setting up shop for the day on their laptops, have 11 "workers" standing around, giggling and not doing what they are there for-pouring a fucking cup of overpriced coffee... Fuck them, their unions and their god awful coffee
Where is that dude that started a petition for the starbucks bellow his place not to close...seems like something he should be involved in....
I really hate the word "barista."
seconded...
thirded
I always laugh at the douches who sit in Starbucks for quite an amount of time with their laptops (Gotta be Mac!) pretending to be "writing" a screenplay/novel/short story.
If they have an arty handbound notebook from Kate's Paperie, then they're journaling.
Yeah those people who sit there, drink coffee and don't bother anyone, total douche bags. Oh and they always use their Macs haha, I just HAVE to laugh at them because of their choice of computer HAHAHA.
You are really having a winning day if you can get the workers at the Sheridan Square branch to take your order rather than joke around with the gay Hispanic teenagers that seem to live there. Last time I was in there, the teenagers were putting on a fashion show and nobody behind the counter was working.
You deadbeat Americans are unbelievable; now your coffee-pourers want to unionize so they can get paid $53.50 + benefits for serving lattes.
You are soooooo BROKE.
At least most of the American coffee drinkers don't beat their wives before they get their first morning fix. Can that be said about your camel driving towel headed relatives?
Starbucks coffee is good... better made at home.
Do we really need Unions for Coffee servers?
They get a good package already for what they do.
Your article and reader comments thereof regarding the Starbucks Union strike was brought to my attention by coworkers. The final sentence had us bewildered and as the employees of the East 9th Street store the story spread like wildfire. We all wanted to hear the story from the source - one of us! Bottom line, it didn't happen, great story albeit imaginary. But, get a reaction you did as plenty of readers had comments regarding the baristas, unions, our coffee verses McDonalds, the tip jar, etc.
I don't really have a comment about the Union. Frankly, a lot of us don't even know about it and I am reticent to open my mouth and speak of something I do not know- perhaps something some of those that responded to the article might try. My initial instinct is to be equally as rude and boorish as the readers who commented on the aspects of a job the likes of which they obviously never had nor used half a brain cell to imagine actually doing. Are you truly insulted by a tip jar because the coffee is so expensive? You must be one of those customers that comes in and informs us that they think the names of the coffee's are stupid and will refuse to say the word "Venti." "I'll have a large coffee," you say smugly. Doesn't bother me, I didn't make it up and your ostrich-head-in-the-sand delinquency thinking that your proving some sort of point to me is mistaken. Your voice didn't protrude the bubble I surrounded myself with when you presented yourself as a customer that needs to be placated and coddled and in the end will put the 11 cents back in your pocket despite the fact that I gave you cheerful service, tried to keep the lobby around you clean, keep your milk chilled, bathroom clean, coffee fresh, and am being paid next to minimum wage to do so. I'm not going to start in about a defense on our prices, I have as much control over them as you do, but give us, the people who pour your coffee a break - for crying out loud - we probably can't afford it ourselves.
Times are rough for everyone - it's a simple fact that is at the point of being over-said to redundancy. While more is expected of us from both our superiors and our customers, labor is being cut and at times it feels we are barely keeping our heads above water as we struggle to do our best. It's unfortunate that some customers have experienced baristas that don't give adequate service. As one who does, and as one with chapped hands from cleaning your tables when you leave a crumby mess, one who knows precisely where the haz-mat number is when we find needles in the bathroom or feces on the floor, one who walks to work at 4:30 in the morning so you can have your hot cup of coffee and has to face hundreds of un-caffeinated people who are at their worst but have come to expect a smile from me, one who has had hot coffee thrown at me and bums scream in my face, I ask you to be more understanding of what I do. It may really cork you that I get health insurance despite being part-time, it might annoy you that I call your "small" a "tall," you may hate the taste of Pike Place Roast, but give me a break - put on the apron for a day and try to do my job, the fact that you are so intolerant makes me doubt you have it in you, after all you'd have to face people just like you.
Well, according to a sworn deposition, the incident at the East 9th Street Starbucks did happen.
Cry me a river. It's your job, get over it. I'm sure a lot of other people out there would love to have it, if you're that unhappy.
I'm pretty sure the OP wasn't saying that they were unhappy. I took their post as saying "here's some perspective for you to consider before ignorantly bashing Starbucks baristas, you assholes." Sure, if you go to some stores people will be slacking off, being surly, etc. That's because those stores are poorly managed and the company hired the wrong people. Like that never happens at ANY other restaurant, coffee shop, or branch of a national chain.
When I heard about the Starbucks union, I wasn't sure why anyone would feel they needed to join it. Considering that our store has just laid off half its staff for "not having the right availability," however - a decision that had nothing to do with their performance - I can see why. On the other hand, the company's going off the rails and losing tons of money. There have been massive cutbacks in almost every aspect of how the store runs. What are they supposed to do?
In this case: we can't judge the dismissal of the specific barista since we don't know what happened. Maybe management is right and she slacked off. Maybe she was punctual and it's all bullshit. We have no idea.
Wow did you have a triple espresso before typing that post? No but seriously you should win an award for best drama; you had me in tears...
It's amazing how everyone feels so deserving.