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Starbucks will pay about USD 35 million to more than 15,000 New York City workers to settle claims it denied them stable schedules and arbitrarily cut their hours, city officials announced Monday, hours before Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and US Sen. Bernie Sanders visited striking baristas on a picket line. The development came amid a continuing strike by Starbucks' union that began last month at dozens of locations around the country. The workers want better hours and increased staffing, and they are angry that Starbucks hasn't agreed on a contract nearly four years after workers voted to unionize at a Buffalo store. Union votes at other locations followed, and about 550 of Starbucks' 10,000 company-owned stores are now unionized. The coffee giant also has around 7,000 licensed locations at airports, grocery stores and other locales. Workers and the company dispute the extent and impact of the strike, but Mamdani, Sanders and some state and city officials sought to amplify the ...
Starbucks has said it is forming a joint venture with Chinese investment firm Boyu Capital to operate Starbucks stores in China. Under the agreement, Boyu will pay USD 4 billion to acquire a 60 per cent interest in Starbucks' retail operations in China. Starbucks will retain a 40 per cent interest in the joint venture and will own and licence the Starbucks brand. Starbucks entered China almost 30 years ago, and has been credited with growing coffee culture in the country. China is Starbucks' second-largest market outside the US, with 8,000 locations. But in recent years, the Seattle coffee giant has struggled in China with cheap, fast-growing Chinese startups like Luckin Coffee. As a result, Starbucks has been looking for a partner to help it grow its business in China, particularly in smaller cities. In July, Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said the company was evaluating around 20 offers for a stake in the company.
Starbucks workers in three states took legal action against the coffee giant Wednesday, saying it violated the law when it changed its dress code but refused to reimburse employees who had to buy new clothes. The employees, who are backed by the union organising Starbucks' workers, filed class-action lawsuits in state court in Illinois and Colorado. Workers also filed complaints with California's Labor and Workforce Development Agency. If the agency decides not to seek penalties against Starbucks, the workers intend to file a class-action lawsuit in California, according to the complaints. Starbucks didn't comment directly on the lawsuits Wednesday, but the company said it simplified its dress code to deliver a more consistent experience to customers and give its employees clearer guidance. As part of this change, and to ensure out partners were prepared, partners received two shirts at no cost, the company said Wednesday. Starbucks refers to its employees as partners. Starbucks' n
Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees globally as new Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol streamlines operations. In a letter to employees released Monday, Niccol said the company will inform employees who are being laid off by mid-day Tuesday. Niccol said Starbucks is also eliminating several hundred open and unfilled positions. Our intent is to operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity and drive better integration, Niccol wrote in the letter. Starbucks has 16,000 corporate support employees worldwide, but that includes some employees who aren't impacted, like roasting and warehouse staff. Baristas in the company's stores are not included in the layoffs. Niccol said in January that corporate layoffs would be announced by early March. He said all work must be overseen by someone who can make decisions while the the Seattle coffee giant reduces the complexity of its structure and eliminates silos within the company that slow communication. Our si
Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract. The strikes that started Thursday and Friday followed other recent standoffs between corporate America and organized labor. Large and established labor unions secured meaningful employer concessions this year following strikes by Boeing factory workers, dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports, video game performers, and hotel and casino workers on the Las Vegas Strip. But workers at Starbucks, Amazon and some other prominent consumer brands still are fighting for their first contracts. Amazon refuses to acknowledge the organizing efforts of drivers and warehouse workers many of whom have voted to unionize even though the powerful Teamsters union says it represents them. Starbucks long resisted the unionization of its stores, but had agreed to ..