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Starbucks Tycoon Bullies the Baristas
The billionaires peddling austerity have always insisted that theyre in it for the common man. A recent TV ad for Fix the Debtthe well-heeled group demanding that we cut tax rates and Social Security benefitsstars a teacher and a farmer. But Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz did his peers one better: conscripting countless low-wage workers into the austerity army.
The day after Christmas, Schultz announced an unconventional effort to use our companys scale for good by sending a respectful and optimistic message to our elected officials. The occasion: the tremendously important, time-sensitive issue to fix the national debt. The medium: for a couple of days, DC-area Starbucks partners (meaning workers) would write Come Together on customers cups. Imagine the power of our partners and hundreds of thousands of customers each sharing a simple message, one cup at a time, Schultz wrote on the Starbucks blog. He also plugged the Fix the Debt website and, for good measure, name-checked the massacre at Sandy Hook elementary.
Days before the so-called New Years fiscal cliff deadline, the Starbucks stunt seized a decent chunk of media attention. Some celebrated its spunk; others slammed its seeming naïveté. A smaller number noted the moral bankruptcy of its premise: that the national debt is a crisis, and one the working class should sacrifice to fix. But in mainstream circles, there was little outrage over what was most outrageous about the Come Together campaign: Starbucks decision to draft its employees as a delivery system for austerity.
Schultzs use of hourly employees was both shrewd and deceptive. Logistics aside, a Come Together message inscribed by a billionaire CEO and printed on coffee cups could never pack the same punch as one that was handwritten by workers making $8-something an hour. Schultzs blog post was quickly followed by a mass e-mail from Fix the Debt, bragging that Baristas at Starbucks are showing their support for bipartisan solutions this week. CEOs hawking shared sacrifice are a dime a dozen. A working-class seal of approval is much more valuable, even iflike so much in the American workplaceits coerced. (Starbucks assured CNN that workers could decline to participate. But not all who are drafted will risk becoming a conscientious objector.)
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from http://www.thenation.com/article/172547/starbucks-tycoon-bullies-baristas#The day after Christmas, Schultz announced an unconventional effort to use our companys scale for good by sending a respectful and optimistic message to our elected officials. The occasion: the tremendously important, time-sensitive issue to fix the national debt. The medium: for a couple of days, DC-area Starbucks partners (meaning workers) would write Come Together on customers cups. Imagine the power of our partners and hundreds of thousands of customers each sharing a simple message, one cup at a time, Schultz wrote on the Starbucks blog. He also plugged the Fix the Debt website and, for good measure, name-checked the massacre at Sandy Hook elementary.
Days before the so-called New Years fiscal cliff deadline, the Starbucks stunt seized a decent chunk of media attention. Some celebrated its spunk; others slammed its seeming naïveté. A smaller number noted the moral bankruptcy of its premise: that the national debt is a crisis, and one the working class should sacrifice to fix. But in mainstream circles, there was little outrage over what was most outrageous about the Come Together campaign: Starbucks decision to draft its employees as a delivery system for austerity.
Schultzs use of hourly employees was both shrewd and deceptive. Logistics aside, a Come Together message inscribed by a billionaire CEO and printed on coffee cups could never pack the same punch as one that was handwritten by workers making $8-something an hour. Schultzs blog post was quickly followed by a mass e-mail from Fix the Debt, bragging that Baristas at Starbucks are showing their support for bipartisan solutions this week. CEOs hawking shared sacrifice are a dime a dozen. A working-class seal of approval is much more valuable, even iflike so much in the American workplaceits coerced. (Starbucks assured CNN that workers could decline to participate. But not all who are drafted will risk becoming a conscientious objector.)
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Starbucks Tycoon Bullies the Baristas (Original Post)
limpyhobbler
Jan 2013
OP
MotherPetrie
(3,145 posts)1. Will continue to hate Starbucks coffee.
PDJane
(10,103 posts)2. Thank you.
I refuse to drink that swill.
Omaha Steve
(99,780 posts)3. Marta and I prefer Scooters
And tip them well. The first store is just a short drive for us.
http://www.scooterscoffeehouse.com/