SEATTLE ACTION: Celebration Of Resistance

Is Starbucks "The Coffee That Cares?"

- Baristas And Coffee Farmers Demand Living Wages
- Baristas Demand The Right To Organize
- Coffee Farmers Demand Ethiopian Trademarks
- Coffee Farmers Demand A Share Of Retail Sales

Join Us For A Celebration Of Resistance At The Starbucks Annual Meeting

Wednesday, March 21 @ 9 A.M.
Marion Oliver Mccaw Hall
At The Seattle Center
Mercer Street, Between Third And Fourth Avenues
Seattle, Washington

Want To Learn More?

Come To A Screening Of Black Gold And Make Signs

Friday March 16th @ 6pm
Cascade People's Center
309 Pontius Avenue North
Seattle, Washington

For more info or to get involved contact organizer Tomer Malchi at 646-753-1167

Baristas At Starbucks Demand Justice

In contrast to Starbucks' socially responsible image, Barista Sarah Bender's story illustrates the dark side of its force. When she started in 2004 in Manhattan, she was paid $7.75 an hour; she now earns $10.10. Initially, she got from 20 to 35 hours of work a week and couldn't predict if she'd be able to pay her rent.

At the same time, at Costco, a new employee started at over $10 an hour. After four years, a Costco cashier worked 40 hours a week and earned around $44,000. Starbucks prevents baristas from working full time; last year, the most Sarah could have earned was around $12,000. Many Starbucks Baristas, including Sarah, receive Medicaid, Section 8 housing or food stamps.

When Sarah joined the Starbucks Workers Union, Starbucks fired her. Before her trial, Starbucks settled, paid her wage loss of $1,700, reinstated her, promised to obey the law. Starbucks broke that promise by firing six more of her colleagues for organizing; their cases are pending before the Labor Board.

In stark contrast, although Costco is only 13% unionized, ARAW, a labor advocacy organization, put Costco on its Labor Day List because Costco "demonstrates that treating employees well is good for business."

Coffee Farmers Demand Justice From Starbucks

Starbucks pays lip service to farmer equity as well as to its Baristas. Starbucks pays poorly for its coffee beans and has refused to sign a trademark licensing agreement with Ethiopia, which is trying to help its coffee farmers to increase their earnings.

Starbucks introduced its "Shirkana Sidamo" Black Apron Exclusive coffee as a testimonial to its "partnership" with Sidamo's coffee farmers (in Aramaic, shirkana means partnership). Judge for yourself whether Starbucks treated them as partners. In 2005 & 2006, Starbucks bought 2,400 bags of sun-dried Sidamo for retail sale at $26 per pound, or $8,236,800. The Sidamo Union got paid an average of $1.38 per pound, or $436,000. The farmers who sold their coffee to the Fero Cooperative, which belongs to the Sidamo Union, got paid roughly $.57 per pound, or around $181,000. These farmers thus got 2.2% of the amount Starbucks planned to make selling their coffee.

The farmers at the Fero Cooperative cannot feed their families, clothe their children or send them to school at 2.2% of expected retail sales. Starbucks' disingenuous promise to double such unfair trades deceptively doubles this "farmer inequity." The Fero farmers say 6% of retail sales is a fair start.

Visit http://www.starbucksunion.org/ and http://www.poorfarmer.blogspot.com/