"Progressive" Peddler of Overpriced Java "Starbucks"-Stealing from the Poor, Giving to the Richer

[El Pinko]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080321/starbucks_tipping_suit.html?.v=2


Starbucks Ordered to Pay Back Tips
Friday March 21, 6:51 am ET
By Chelsea J. Carter, Associated Press Writer
Judge Orders Starbucks to Pay More Than $100 Million in Back Tips

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered Starbucks Corp. to pay its California baristas more than $100 million in back tips and interest that the coffee chain paid to shift supervisors.
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San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett also issued an injunction that prevents Starbucks' shift supervisors from sharing in future tips, saying state law prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities.

....

The lawsuit was filed in October 2004 by Jou Chou, a former Starbucks barista in La Jolla, who complained shift supervisors were sharing in employee tips.

....

"I feel vindicated," Chou said in a written statement released by attorneys. "Tips really help those receiving the lowest wages. I think Starbucks should pay shift supervisors higher wages instead of taking money from the tip pool."




Good for Mr. Chou & all the ripped-off coffee pourers (sorry, I refuse to use a corporate double-speak word like "Barista")

I'll stick to brewing my own, thanks - and if I want to hit a coffee shop, I will patronize LOCALLY OWNED shops.

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. Dumbass Company!

Starbucks is gonna get creamed when the depression hits. I brew my own.

[Clear Blue Sky]

2. McDonalds has better coffee, and much cheaper.

[El Pinko]

5. McDonalds has SURPRISINGLY good coffee.

Still pricey for my blood, though. I make my own 99% of the time...

[spinbaby]

18. I'm having a high-priced latte right this minute

Not at Starbucks, though, although there's one literally across the street.

[Warpy]

3. Locally owned or unpretentious chains like Dunkies

which I understand has consistently good coffee. I don't drink the stuff myself, but I can't imagine myself going in to a Starbuck's to pay $7.50 for something I could pretty much make at home for $1.50, tops, with exotic flavorings and canned whipped cream.

Bah. I'd rather go into one of the bookstore coffee shops. At least I'd have a variety of reading materials and a nicer place to sit and sip.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Dunkies has gone to the Dark Side.

The coffee isn't fresh any more and neither are the donuts. They bake the donuts centrally and truck them in and the coffee no longer has the 15 minutes after brewing dump rule.
I loved DDs, and now it's really mediocre.

[Warpy]

6. See what I miss when I avoid junk food

I never did like their donuts, thought they were why people used to call them "sinkers" because they'd lie like a cinderblock in the pit of my stomach for the next day.

It is a real shame about the coffee. People used to swear by the stuff, now they must swear at it.

[PassingFair]

8. For your enjoyment...it's now OWNED by the Carlyle Group.

I wouldn't choke one of their donuts down
if THEY paid ME.

[Gormy Cuss]

10. Well THAT explains a lot.

I noticed that the coffee had gone downhill in the mid-90s. I gave up on the donuts long before that but one of my cousins is a regional manager and told me about the changes in procedure.

[OnyxCollie]

27. If only this guy would choke on a donut.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

16. The main company is owned by Carlyle but the ones here, locally owned, make the donuts fresh and so

is the coffee. I have a friend who works for one.

It is Carlyle that is now marketing their coffee to grocery stores and other retail outlets and there is no way that I will buy it.

[Gormy Cuss]

20. I have two relatives who work for DD, and both report the donuts made centrally and trucked in.

One's in Maine, one's in the midwest. By "centrally" I mean they're baked off premises in a location that serves a group of stores rather than at each store. There may be some that still do it the old-fashioned way and bake them in the store. With the coffee, at some point in the '90s they seem to have switch to cheaper beans. DDs was where I bought whole beans for home use when I was in Boston and I could tell the difference. -- it wasn't subtle.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

21. The two stores I have locally cook them off here. You can watch them throw them into the oil and

prepare them. I do not know about the bagels, but they do put them out regularly and they come out warm.

As to the coffee, according to my friend, she never stops making fresh coffee. This is in a suburb of NYC.

The real sin is, at the end of the day, the last one there, is to bag and throw away all of the donuts and bagels into the garbage. My friend double bags them in case someone in the neighborhood knows that, so they can take them.

[Beregond2]

7. SB

Being from WA, I'm not as anti-Starbucks as many here. This minor incident hardly puts them in the WalMart category. And their coffee isn't $7.50; give me a break.

Does anyone here remember what coffee was like before Starbucks? The first time I went to NYC in 1987, you couldn't get a cup of coffee that didn't taste like dirty socks. SB may have it's faults, but they sure raised the quality of coffee in general in this country, and made people aware of just how good it could be. And I have always heard they are a great company to work for.

[El Pinko]

12. I lived in San Diego in the late 8os/early 90s before/after Starbucks started appearing everywhere.

There were quite a few wonderful coffeehouses with great coffee, scones etc., LOCAL are and poetry slams with LOCAL people. They were wonderful which was why I have rejected the fakeness of Starbucks since day one.

Starbucks coffee *IS* in the $4 range, which is obscenely expensive.

And they steal tips (and want to continue stealing) from the employees. :puke:

I find it hard to believe there was no decent coffee in NY in 87 if there was great coffee in a burg like San Diego in 1989...

[justanaveragedude]

17. In Tampa FL a Venti cup of coffee is $2.00

[Squatch]

19. I'm a Washingtonian too

and I can't go a day without my Starbucks coffee. But, that's probably because I live on the east coast now, where I can't get Batdorf & Bronsons, Tullys, or SBC...so Starbucks will have to do (which it does, very nicely)

[mondo joe]

25. Starbucks is rarely my first choice - depends on the options. But when you need a

decent coffee, they can be counted on.

[conflictgirl]

9. Honestly I am now rooting for Starbucks...they're the first job offer I've gotten!

As I've posted elsewhere, I graduated from college last August and hadn't yet been able to find a job. I finally got offered a job working part-time for Starbucks, which is honestly a pretty crappy job (and won't even cover my student loan payments) for someone with a bachelor's degree but it's the first job offer I've gotten so I'm pretty damn happy about that! For that reason alone I hope some people keep going to Starbucks so I can at least have a job somewhere.

[stimbox]

22. Join the Starbucks Union conflictgirl!!!!

http://www.starbucksunion.org

[REP]

11. This ruling actually sucks; shifts are not management in any sense

Shift supervisors are not managers; they may get a dollar or two more an hour and more responsibilities - including dealing with dangerous, disruptive customers - but none of the privileges or perks of true management. It would be far better if Starbux paid their shifts more to begin with, but this ruling is not good for workers. (I'm not an sbux employee, but some of my friends are - and even the non-shift workers thinks this ruling is unfair).

[El Pinko]

13. If they are supervising and not serving, they shouldn't get tips, and should be paid more by sbux

I have no problem with anyone who serves the customers getting a share of the tips, regardless of whether the company gives them some title.

[artemisia1]

15. They are serving customers.

They are serving customers. Nearly as often as the baristas. It actually is unfair to them that they take this hit. They're like crew leaders at McDonald's. Starbucks, the corporation, didn't steal tips - they simply ran afoul of a well-intentioned law that unfairly applies to shift supervisors at SB's.

[AngryAmish]

14. California has a state law that makes them management

There is a real problem with restaurant management stealing tips from servers. This mostly happens in Mom and Pop joints (since they make up most of the tipping food industry places). Some states make it very clear that any management cannot have tips. NY has this law also.

Starbucks ran afoul of this very clear law. They probably did not know about it -- but ignorance is not an excuse. So what do they have to do? Pay shift supervisors more to take on the responsibility.

[mondo joe]

24. It ought to be more carefully considered. Labor took the reverse position with regard

to unionizing in hospital settings - team leads were said to be management by hospitals and thus ineligible for union membership, and abor said the were only nominally management.

I'd say there are a lot of people who occupy a gray area, which includes these people.

[mondo joe]

23. I disagree w this. Shift managers do the same service everyone else does. They're

not managers in much of anything but a technical sense.

[El Pinko]

26. Then the fault still lies with starbucks.

If they're managers, pay them like managers. If they are glorified coffee servers, then don't call them managers or supervisors or whatever and let them have tips.

[mondo joe]

29. They have minor responsibilities other servers don't have. They serve like everyone else,

but do a bit more as well.

When I leave a tip it's for the people serving me - I'm not distinguishing between whether they're a server or a server who also, let's say, manages the schedule.

It's not Starbuck's "fault" - the model works perfectly well. CA simply had a law that - though completely well intentioned - didn't make sense of this model.

How about nurse team leads? Labor said that even though they have a few managerial responsibilities they are still essentially regular nurses and should be allowed to unionize - do you agree?

[skepticscott]

28. Thanks

I hate the term "baristas" too...they make freaking lattes, for pity's sake...this is not a high art form and they don't deserve a title in a foreign language.