Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz on Wednesday announced an expansion to company benefits, which would be unavailable to workers at the more than 45 cafes that have voted to unionize since December. New benefits may also be excluded from workers at stores that have filed for elections but have not held votes yet, the company announced on its website.
While Starbucks will raise baristas’ hourly wage floor to $15 by August at both unionized and nonunion stores, according to materials shared by Starbucks, companywide pay changes won’t apply to unionized cafes going forward. These wage hikes were first announced by Starbucks in October, before any stores had unionized, and will raise the employee pay scale from $15 to $23 per hour based on market location and employee tenure.
“Federal law prohibits us from promising new wages and benefits at stores involved in union organizing. And by law, we cannot implement unilateral changes at stores that have a union,” Schultz said during Starbucks’ Q2 2022 earnings call.
Starbucks Workers United will file National Labor Relations Board charges to force Starbucks to implement benefits changes at unionized stores, the union wrote in a statement to Restaurant Dive. These benefits include “student loan refinancing, additional skills recognition programs, enhanced in-app tipping and new profit-sharing initiatives,” Schultz said on the call. Employees will also be able to accrue sick hours faster and access credit card tips, Starbucks...
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