Starbucks Labeled as 'Capitalists' as Partners Unite to Complain! What Are Starbucks Coffee's Wages and Benefits?

Starbucks Labor Crisis: Global Unrest Over Staffing and Working Conditions

Since the pandemic began, Starbucks has consistently reduced staffing levels across its stores, leading to severe labor shortages in multiple regions worldwide. Rather than addressing these staffing issues first, Starbucks continued to launch promotional beverage activities that attracted large numbers of consumers, resulting in remaining employees' workloads increasing several-fold while wages and benefits remained stagnant.

During the two years of the pandemic, Starbucks employees in multiple U.S. locations repeatedly reported to the company about understaffing, high-intensity work, and wages that were disproportionate to their workloads. However, Starbucks neither addressed these issues coordinately nor provided solutions that could appease employee dissatisfaction. With accumulated frustration, employees in various U.S. locations began to confront Starbucks directly! They chose the union that Starbucks disliked most—forming and joining unions just to gain opportunities for face-to-face negotiations with the company, rather than having their concerns lost through layers of corporate communication.

First, employees at a Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, formed the first employee union in Starbucks' American history. Subsequently, three other stores in Buffalo and one store in Arizona also applied to establish unions. Meanwhile, Starbucks employees in six additional cities were seeking votes to determine whether to form unions. With union representation, they could negotiate directly with the company, and Starbucks employees in other U.S. regions began joining existing unions.

Recently, Chicago-area Starbucks employees joined existing American unions, believing that only through collective action could they bring their "partners' voices" to their "partners." Under the union's name, they wrote to Starbucks executive John Culver, stating: "We love this job, but understaffing has made many employees' wages disproportionate to their workloads. Therefore, we will negotiate with you in the form of a union regarding current employee wages and store understaffing issues, hoping the company will take these negotiations seriously."

Corporate Response and Safety Concerns

Starbucks in the United States has historically opposed employees forming or joining unions, describing unions as "obstacles" to company development. Previously, when store employees attempted to form unions, the company spent substantial money to dissolve those stores. Regarding this recent union formation, Starbucks neither intended to prevent it nor planned to acknowledge it. Until now, Starbucks has not responded to negotiations submitted in the form of union representation.

Beyond the lack of response, Starbucks also failed to provide basic safety protections for employees during the pandemic. On January 6th, reports indicated that employees at the U.S. store that formed the first Starbucks union began to resign one after another. The reason was that during such a severe pandemic, the company did not provide this store with sufficient N95 masks. Despite the state mandate requiring all people entering public places to wear masks, many customers still refused to wear them, yet Starbucks required employees to continue serving these customers. With unsafe conditions + high-intensity work + understaffing, employees expressed extreme fatigue and resigned in succession over recent days.

In response, a Starbucks spokesperson stated: "We have closed dine-in services at 20 stores in the Buffalo area, offering only takeout, and shortened store operating hours to address the local surge in COVID cases and employee shortages. We also hope all employees will cooperate with epidemic prevention measures, complete vaccinations as soon as possible, and have updated policies regarding how long employees should isolate after COVID-19 infection to minimize potential transmission risks."

Global Labor Movement

Beyond the United States, Starbucks partners in South Korea have also been joining local unions recently, also due to low wages, poor benefits, and dissatisfaction with high-intensity work. Besides collectively organizing, they have also anonymously complained about Starbucks on online forums. One post read: "During a Starbucks promotion event, a customer purchased 650 drinks at once, but the company did not provide additional staff for the store, causing all employees to be extremely overwhelmed while still having to smile and serve the continuous stream of customers."

Last December, experts in South Korea released survey data: In 2020, 613 Starbucks employees sought mental health treatment due to work-related stress, more than five times the number in 2015. Injury incidents due to understaffing also doubled compared to 2019.

Beyond online complaints, some Starbucks employees also rented a truck with a display screen that read: "Please don't forget, partners are Starbucks' greatest asset." They drove from downtown Seoul to the Gangnam district to express their dissatisfaction to customers waiting in line to buy coffee during Starbucks events. This action stemmed not only from dissatisfaction with high workloads but low wages, but also because after Starbucks entered South Korea in 1999, they promised to increase wages based on seniority and performance, yet only a handful of employees actually enjoyed this benefit.

Domestic Impact and Conclusion

In the past two years, Starbucks partners in China have also been vocal about their difficulties. Although benefits have improved, they are not implemented immediately but require waiting another year or so before being distributed to partners. Regarding personnel allocation, some stores are also experiencing understaffing, with no available staff to train new employees, and the salary and benefits offered to new employees are not as good as before.

From this perspective, joining or forming unions seems to have limited significance. What's comforting is that Starbucks partners now have an outlet to vent their frustrations. After releasing their emotions, the work must continue.

Image source: Internet

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