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Daniel Gross looks a lot like your average Starbucks (SBUX) barista. The 28-year-old is slim and clean-shaven, dressed in tan cargo pants and a T-shirt.
But Gross would rather talk about worker solidarity than lattes and soy milk these days. A volunteer organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Gross claims his involvement with the union got him fired from a New York City Starbucks a year ago. Now he's preparing to go before a judge on Aug. 6 to make the case for himself and other baristas he says have been fired or intimidated for union activity. Seated in the one-room headquarters of the IWW's local in Queens (N.Y.), Gross says it's all part of a broader battle to change the way American companies treat their employees.
"This trial is putting corporate social responsibility itself on trial," says Gross. "Starbucks has been the paragon of socially responsible marketing, and if it's fake at Starbucks, it's very likely fake in general." NLRB Gets Involved
Gross and the IWW contend that Starbucks not only discourages union activity, it also overstates the generosity of its benefits. Among other things, Gross points out that only 42% of Starbucks "partners," or employees, are covered by the company's health insurance, a figure the company confirms. That's below the 47% at Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), which has come under heavy fire for its pay and benefits (see BusinessWeek.com, 11/16/06, "Can Barack Wake Up Wal-Mart?").
For more: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jul2007/db20070801_050494_page_2.htm
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IWW Resurgence: Unionizing Starbucks
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A Storied Union Takes On Starbucks
The Industrial Workers of the World is taking on the coffee giant and its much-praised workplace practices
By Moira Herbst
BusinessWeek, August 1, 2007
Straight to the Source
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