Posted on 11/07/2023 8:08:38 AM PST by Red Badger
Starbucks has a message for its 8,000 unionized employees, not-so-tacitly delivered: "Sucks to be U!"
The Seattle-based brewer of burnt coffee and coffee-based sugar-delivery systems reported a stellar quarter last week that sent SBUX shares soaring from $91.01 on Wednesday to Monday's closing price of just over $104. Net sales were up over this time last year by 11.4% and revenues beat Wall Street expectations, $9.37 billion to $9.29 billion.
Not only were more customers showing up at the chain's existing stores, but they were also spending more per ticket. Wall Street loves news like that — and Starbucks retail workers are going to love it, too.
Correction: most Starbucks retail workers.
All that money coming in has Starbucks getting ambitious again about its growth plans. The company plans even more stores in key markets, according to The Street but it's the baristas who stand to benefit most. Starbucks had 2020 a goal to double barista pay by 2024, which has already increased by 50%.
Monday the company announced another 3% pay increase — and new benefits — for most retail workers, but long-term employees will enjoy a 5% bump. Starbucks North America exec veep Sara Trilling said the pay raises are "what makes us all partners. And an important way we do this is by investing in our partners’ journey, to bridge to a better future at Starbucks and beyond."
But not if you belong to a union.
Over the last couple of years, 8,000 employees at 340 U.S. locations voted to unionize, mostly with the Workers United organization. There are around 220,000 Starbucks workers nationwide, but the unionized few have yet to establish any kind of collective bargaining arrangement and even if they had... well:
Union members will get whatever increases were locked in last year, which vary.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
That’s one way to kill a union. Just pay all your non-union employees more than the union members. Pretty soon they’ll start asking what they are paying dues for if they just get screwed.
I’m mainly surprised that Starbucks exists at all. Good on sticking it to union employees. But Starbucks proves the old adage that no one ever went broke by underestimating the taste of the American public.
I have never understood the appeal of overpriced coffee houses such as Starbucks. When I used to drink coffee, I would make my own and carry it in a thermos for the day. Just part of my routine.
It’s a ‘status’ symbol now to be seen with a Starbucks coffee cup at work...............
Agreed
How anyone drinks that overpriced swill is beyond my comprehension.
What movie is that?
Idiocracy
*** The Seattle-based brewer of burnt coffee and coffee-based sugar-delivery systems***
LOL. I see someone agrees with me about that swill.
Hahahahaha I just LOVE that movie! Time to watch it again!
"Welcome to Costco. I love you."
Starbucks has the ability to close their unionized stores and open new ones half a block away.
Complain all you want about how you dislike their offerings; their stores are ubiquitous and people like the sugar.
At my closest Starbucks, the employees were convinced to stage a walkout last September and to seek union membership for the location. Among the complaints, not enough staff to handle the work. Keep in mind, years ago, there used to be a minimum of three running a store, and it was sometimes pretty busy. Customers just had to wait. Now, there are usually 5-6 employees, and about the same amount of traffic. They claimed to be overworked.
So, the corporate response was to turn the store into a drive-through only that is opened from 6am to noon. An entire shift of people were laid off. So much for unionizing. There had to be at least ten people who lost their jobs.
Will have to check it out. Thanks. I bet hubby has already seen it. He watches more movies than I do, or at least, he used to. He doesn’t travel as much anymore. That’s one of the nice things about moving up the corporate ladder. He can send someone else to check out what’s going on at a location.
The opening to the movie just kills me, too...where they show the difference in fertility between brainless redneck families and the high IQ yuppie types...just hilarious!
Starsucks and the unions deserve each other
It's definitely a smart approach.
Once you unionize, you exchange one set of bosses for another. The union bosses might "fight" for you, but trust me, they are taking their cut of the action.
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