Huffington Post: Starbucks's Health Care Policy Is Sickening

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zp-heller/starbucks-health-care-pol_b_208382.html

ZP HellerPosted: May 27, 2009 06:20 PM

Since Brave New Films launched Stop Starbucks last week, over 50,000 people watched the video, "What do Starbucks and Wal-Mart have in common?" and 15,000 signed the petition insisting CEO Howard Schultz support his workers' unionization efforts. The latest video, "Starbucks' Health Care Policy Is Sickening," takes the Wal-Mart comparison even further, considering Starbucks insures less than 42 percent of its employees in the US -- a rate lower than Wal-Mart. Watch as a former Starbucks worker explains how Starbucks routinely precludes employees from working the 20 hours a week (or 240 hours per quarter) necessary to qualify for the company's health insurance.

The shocking truth about Starbucks' health care policy and anti-labor practices belie the company's "progressive" veneer. Give Schultz a call and tell him to quit his anti-union ways: [phone].

You can also enter the Stop Starbucks contest, which caught fire last week when Boing Boing, Bloggasm, and others credited Stop Starbucks with undercutting the company's recent multi-million dollar ad campaign.

And today, this campaign's viral spiral caught the attention of the LA Times:


The Starbucks chief executive, who actively cultivates a socially progressive image, is in the cross-hairs of a new-media campaign designed to bolster union representation at the retail giant and beyond.

For five years, Starbucks has been the target of a limited but sometimes nasty unionization drive that has tarnished its reputation for high-minded benevolence.

But last week, Brave New Films in Culver City launched an ambitious "Stop Starbucks" offensive, including a website (StopStarbucks.com) featuring a four-minute video that was also posted on YouTube assailing Starbucks' treatment of workers, along with a petition demanding that Schultz "quit following Wal-Mart's anti-union example."

FULL story at link.

[dkf]

1. re: Keeping employees under 20 hrs: Is that a company policy or is that the individual manager

trying to control cost?

Do managers get paid based on how well/poor the store does?