LA Times: Starbucks target of new-media campaign by union

[marmar]

Starbucks target of new-media campaign by union
11:48 AM | May 27, 2009


Starbucks a hub of union-busting and worker exploitation?

Say it ain’t so, Howard Schultz!

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.”

By week's end, almost 12,000 had signed the petition, and nearly 40,000 had viewed the video, organizers said.

The anti-Starbucks onslaught also featured a Twitter “hijacking” designed to undermine a Starbucks promotion in which contestants vied for prizes by submitting photos of themselves at Starbucks cafes. The virtual saboteurs forwarded the required “Twitpics” but hoisted signs blaring seditious mottos such as, “I want a union with my latte” or “Shultz makes millions, workers make beans.” ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/05/starbucks-target-of-new-media-campaign-by-union.html