Dear Friend,

Starbucks’ profits increased by 31% at the end of 2021.(1)

Employees, however, aren’t seeing any of that profit come their way. Instead, average wages increased by one cent in the last month.(2) And despite the ongoing pandemic, Starbucks workers have seen hardship pay taken away, have had to work long hours in understaffed stores, and have been fired without cause.(3)

Starbucks employees have fought back with an unprecedented union effort, organizing eight stores in just a few months. But the nation’s largest coffee chain is fighting back, reinstating anti-union CEO Howard Schultz and launching union-busting tactics to stop the baristas’ efforts.(4)

We have incredible power as consumers to pressure Starbucks to give its employees the right to have a voice in their working conditions, which is why Courage California has joined a coalition of workers’ rights advocates to pressure CEO Howard Schultz to stop blocking Starbucks baristas from unionizing.

Tell Starbucks: Let your employees unionize!

These ballooning profits and stagnant wages haven’t stopped Starbucks from announcing a price increase for its products -- but their employees aren’t seeing any benefit.(5)

Instead, the coffee powerhouse is putting money into trying to stop the union effort by delaying votes, by asking the National Labor Relations Board to prohibit employees from discussing unions, and by sending corporate shills into the stores to try to stop the organizing meetings.

The corporation even went so far as to close stores that had pro-union majorities, and several employees at a Tennessee location were fired for no other reason than supporting their union.(6)

More than 130 stores have filed for a union vote, and we need to let these workers know we have their backs. If Starbucks employees can successfully unionize, it would provide a road map for other low-wage employees to unionize as well.

Sign now to tell Starbucks to allow its employees to unionize!

Yours in the fight to defend workers' rights,

Irene, along with Amber, Angela, Annie, Isidra, Jay, Lindsay, LisaMarie, Mai, Mai, Raquel, and Scottie (the Courage team) 

Footnotes:
1. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-measure-inflation-raise-prices-corporate-profits-supply-chain-2022-2
2. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/real-average-hourly-earnings-for-all-employees-increased-0-1-percent-from-november-to-december-2021.htm
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/errolschweizer/2021/10/26/why-are-starbucks-workers-unionizing/?sh=16ac84346151
4. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/seattle-starbucks-welcomes-anti-union-ceo-howard-schultz-back-to-work-by-unionizing-unanimously.html
5. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-measure-inflation-raise-prices-corporate-profits-supply-chain-2022-2
6. https://www.eater.com/22925565/starbucks-union-wave-explained