Originally published at: Howard Schultz describes Starbucks corporate as Jews held captive by Nazis on death trains in an attempt to stop unionization | Boing Boing
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The reference starts at 44:04:
The irony is that he’s telling a story about sharing a blanket in a time of persecution, when Starbucks is essentially refusing to share a blanket with its employees in a time of increasing profits.
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Howard, you useless turd-waffle, you can not take the cash with you to hell when you die.
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Wow, that’s an excessive metaphor to whip out.
“CEO Howard Schultz painstakingly created a culture at Starbucks with union deterrence in mind, placing a strong emphasis on notions of “partnership” and “community” as a substitute for worker solidarity. Now Starbucks Workers United is leveraging that inclusive and egalitarian language against the company. And it’s doing so at a time when the labor movement in the coffee industry is growing.”
“The narrative that all employees, regardless of rank and pay grade, are partners who each contribute and are equally valued by the Starbucks community is little more than a brand-specific version of the oft-repeated anti-union slogan “We’re a family here.” As Ashley Rodriquez of the coffee industry newsletter Boss Barista has written, the “perks” offered and “fun” environments in coffee shops are dangled before underpaid staff as bonus features that cancel out the need for a union.”
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So he’s saying Starbucks employees are on a death train?
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Schultz: “I’m Jewish, so I’m allowed to compare things to Nazis that are in no way close or even appropriate to be compared to Nazis.”
/s
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Howard clearly didn’t learn the lessons the rabbi was trying to teach him. These stories Howard told and the follow-up platitudes are so pro-union style sentiment. A shared blanket is the perfect metaphor for the concept of a union. And yet “doing the right thing” and "being hhumble"for him is refusing to sign off on equality measures for his “partners” and squashing unionization? What a soulless corporate soul-sucker.
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I almost never get anything from Starbucks, except when literally no other option is available. (Some captive audience situations, I can recall.) Howard’s speech here is not making me reconsider this.
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I love at the end after Howard leaves and the pro-union advocate stands-up to try and make her voice heard, and you can hear a woman (next to the camera or maybe behind it, but very clearly) starting to complain that the meeting has suddenly become “hostile”.
Like, WTF. Do you even understand what a hostile environment even is?
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I mean it was hostile the whole time schultz was talking. He was perpetrating cultural and economic violence.
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I did not know that Starbucks had over 40-% employee stock ownership- of unrestricted full voting shares.
Oh - you mean that other kind of partnership.
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In Buffalo we tend to go to Spot Coffee instead.
Employees at a coffee shop formed a union. Here’s what happened next.
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The Rabi didn’t say how much of the blanket to share so I gave each person a thread.
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His stories are so so so ill considered.
In the first, is he saying he is the Nazi and only giving every 6 people one blanket? Why? He could buy millions of blankets if he wanted. He could give every employee at least 2 blankets and not even notice a dent to his profits. Why is he being so scrimpy then asking them to share his meager handouts?
(Rhetorical)
This is disappointing. I remember a while ago it seemed like this might actually be a good company.
Also, Howard is ripping off my Mr.Rogers style ethos, and not as well as YT, if I do say so myself. The way his cardigan opens at the bottom gives the visual illusion of a codspiece. Just, nope.
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