Forum Post: dividing the working class...starbucks - real ploy
Posted 9 years ago on March 18, 2015, 2:51 p.m. EST by elf3
(4203)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
http://gawker.com/starbucks-to-somehow-worsen-americas-race-problem-using-1691937360
Mr. Schultz...can we discuss instead...issues that affect the working class and unites us instead of divides us such as...the right to unionize, organized labor discussions, corporate personhood and unlimited campaign funding, the ability to make a liveable wage, the cost of living, or about GMO labeling ( which you are fighting in Vermont courts). I'm sure what minimum wage workers struggling to feed their families would rather discuss with customers are the conditions which prevent them from meeting the costs of living while having no ability to save for a future and the trade policies which send unionized labor liveable wage jobs overseas to be replaced with slave labor and forces us into the service sector at Starbucks no less. Starbucks operates no differently than McDonalds when it comes to worker respect. Better lighting, better music, same lobbying policies as any other fast food chain. Workers, working customers, don't be fooled by this divisive pr stunt. While the corporate kings take their thrones, they seek to distract us in fighting.
I also think above all ...unattractive people face the most discrimination...that is the ugliest little truth in America...we like to pretend we aren't superficial ...that someone with bad teeth, wrinkles, non perfect features can have the same access to jobs as everyone else...I'm betting they can't and there are no laws to protect someone who hasn't won the genetic looks lottery. I've witnessed it happen to people...and I do wonder what it must be like to face a job market with such competition...not just lacking skills, but lacking the youthful attractive face ...a company seeks to represent them. Pretty people face discrimination as well...but not in the same way. In a nation obsessed with attractiveness, youth, and constant in your face sex marketing, I find it hard to believe...race could be the foremost issue. It is superficial people who are the problem ...adults with child minds unable to graduate to the next level of adult maturity...to see past appearance and find the true person underneath. That is what our nation is missing. Wall Street marketers have set this trend...perhaps it is they who need to reverse it...not their customers. These days like being green and multicultural are hip marketing trends designed to cover superficial ends that cover over the inadequacies of the system they are driving. We need real jobs that pay. We need fairness on the most basic level of survival...we need to shelter and feed ourselves and our loved ones. We don't need trends or market studies ...we need corpirations to start acting like the humans they claim to be...or we need to disband the monopolies/ multinational conglomerates they have become.
Starbucks and monsanto...on the same team! Your right to be informed about the poison you decide to ingest being challenged and fought with your tax dollars...while they feel the need to re-educate the public on race. We work and live in the same neighborhoods. We don't live in gated communities like ceos...they know nothing of our struggles...if they did they would not try to distract us from our united cause...OCCUPY!!! WALLSTREET!
so only people with tax dolars count ?
What I'm trying to convey is that Starbucks and Groc Store Chains plus Monsanto are trying to overturn a law the people wanted. So they sue the STATE....which is you and me, and all of the people who wanted the labeling laws...the state fights it with tax revenue...judges must get paid as well as attorneys. The taxpayer is paying to fight the companies suing our government...which (is supposed to) represent us. Even if Starbucks ends this ridiculous diversion campaign...we need to keep this issue of GMO justice as well as the issue of ceo pay gap between workers pay going. We NEED retail unions to replace our lost manufacturing jobs. Retail can not be outsourced. What are THEY going to do ( for a change) when we make them do something? Answer equals pay workers wages that meet inflation and cost of living and share their massive wealth with their workers...who make their business possible AND not bill their customers the difference...but bill themselves!
What does Vermont have to do with us (they will say)...court precedents set the law forever for future cases...this suit WILL determine the law for the entire nation especially if it goes to the supreme court ( which I'm gathering is their goal) because Bush appointees WILL vote in favor of corporate power ...they are selling us case by case to the highest bidder.
when i hear someone use the word "tax payer"
it suggest government should be run by those that can pay tax
as if money were solid
Government is run by those who lobby and fund politicians...taxes are the tolls extracted from the citizenry to fund the one percent Monopoly Games.
and I work for whoever is willing to and able to pay me
I respect people with good survival skills, in these times especially, but I have a lot of contempt for the people in this corrupt system who worked for "whoever.. [was] willing" to pay them.
they should starve to death homeless sans money ?
The survival of the individual depends on the collective. We do not live in a vacuum. When the collective thrives, so does the individual. If for no other than selfish reasons , we must care about others well being. Nature has inextricably linked us together.
A nation with no moral fiber, can hardly be called a nation ... when the people comprising said nation splinter and fold...what will remain to hold it up?
seems vague and general, there is enough food to eat
For how long? When it is being horded at the top. What about when they decide to cut us off? Droughts acomin...food needs water to grow. They may decide you don't need as much as you think to live. Afterall they need to put themselves and their families first. Well when we are too weak to join the economy who is going to keep them in business? They may be going down in style but the whole boats a sinkin.
the water and day rhythm are not human dependent and relatively eterrnal
much more food grows for humans if they foster that
Laborers and people on their feet all day need more food than white collar workers. They don't eat enough now due to high prices three squares a day is a relic of the past ( like homeownership is going to be)...more than that nutritious food costs twice as much as processed crap. They will get sick and tired. They may even forgo eating to pay bills or so their kids can eat. It isn't a spoken thing but working people aren't eating like they should be...and many are only eating one meal a day. That can't sustain our labor force...nor our medical system. Impoper nutrition causes many diseases. GMO Frankenfoods added to that mix...this country is headed for a cancer boom. While pharmaceutical companies may wet themselves over that ...it is terrible for the rest of us. GMO food is not crossbreeding it is a man made change to it's dna structure. Our bodies have not adapted to recognize it as food....equals disaster to cells and our entire immune system.
Fyi coffee has more pesticides than any other crop...skip the cup o poison...probably explains how Starbucks has teamed up with MonSatin to fight gmo labeling.
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Wages are the greatest equalizer...good paying jobs to replace outsourced slave labor...retail unions now!!!! Equalize...unite...pay the workers decent wages...liveable wages with sick time health benefits and holidays with family. Childcare centers!!! Full time fixed schedules...UNIONS NOW!!!
Trickle down profits now!!! Ceos in gated communities...workers in the ghettos...black white...unite for better pay!!!
Let's show them how divided we are...UNIONIZE Starbucks now!!!!!! Retail unions now...push the move workers united can't ever be defeated. Wages are the greatest equalizer!!!!!!
Maybe the Starbucks CEO wants to have a discussion about why there are so few starbucks in African-American neighborhoods? Shouldn't Starbucks and Mr Shultz answer some tough questions first before he expects his customers to?
ha ha So true! learly because they want to upkeep their image of serving an elite clientele...blacks and whites all of us in working class neighborhoods ( we are apparently steerage) plus we can't afford 8 bucks for a latte ...that is an hour of work for most of us ( before taxes). If it weren't for their political tinkering... i'd probably treat myself every now and again...but i believe we Vote with our dollars! I don't put them into companies who pretend to be one thing but are doing terrible things to people ( which includes workers) using our government and Courts like their personal monopoly board.
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Point our fingers at eachother...don't look at the ceo's ...this is a diversion
Workers, united, can never be defeated!!!!
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/starbucksmonsanto.asp
Billionare CEO vs service sector minion 8 bucks an hour
How much time does it take Mr Schultz to earn one employees yearly salary?
Gold stars to the first one who answers!,,,
Take a deep breath and let it out. Ch-ching, that's about how long it takes for Mr. Schultz to earn $8.00 (about three seconds).
http://www1.salary.com/Howard-Schultz-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-STARBUCKS-CORP.html
Of course it would depend on how many hours the "service sector minion" worked a year (and Mr. Schultz), but assuming a 40 hour work week, 52 weeks a year (unheard of these days for the average worker in the service sector) the minion would make $17,280 a year. It took Schultz less than two hours in FY 2014 (total compensation) to make that.
And...all these ceos are double dipping because they also dabble in the rental industry...name me a ceo who doesn't own rental properties? Rich dad / poor dad (enlightening read). So sad...the greed and lies and pompous arrogance.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/03/24/minimum-wage-rent-affordable-housing/6817639/
Double-dipping probably only scratches the surface. Considering tax avoidance schemes the rich have at their disposal unavailable to the peons, $30,000 an hour speaking gigs, the occasional briefcase of cash for "favors rendered," etc. there really is no comparison between "us" and "them" in terms of income. Apples and oranges, really.
Good post, elf, and hang in there! It's all uphill, but as Shadz is wont to say, "resistance is fertile."
True- see film We're not Broke for complete description of these avoidance schemes. Once you have wealth...doesn't take much to make more. Kind of like education is easy ...paying for it is the hard part. Investing is easy ...paying for it is the hard part.
http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/20726-exceptional-upward-mobility-in-the-u-s-is-a-myth-international-studies-show
I've bookmarked the film "We're Not Broke" and will try and watch it soon, although I'll have to break it up into a couple of pieces. Hopefully it'll run on my slow machine, and if not, I've bookmarked a couple of links. For some reason I have trouble running Hulu clips, so I also have one from 'Snagfilms.'
And thanks for the informative links (the University of Michigan and the previous USAToday link). Informative and a bit sobering, though. But then, there are a lot of 'sobering' (if not downright depressing) facts coming to light.
It's better to know the hard truths, though, than to remain in the dark, don't you think? The internet, and this site of course, have been invaluable in spreading the knowledge. And knowledge, as we well know, is power. A game-changer, if we have the time.
Workers, working customers, don't be fooled by this divisive pr stunt. While the corporate kings take their thrones, they seek to distract us in fighting.
and don't be dismayed by the OP's burying the lead!