Being allowed to decorate our stores for Pride, and other holidays, is important to partners, many of whom are themselves part of the LGBT+ community. In a time where LGBT+ rights, transgender rights especially, are under attack, it's important that both customers and partners feel supported and welcomed. Partners and customers alike LOVE to come in and see a fun and positive environment with fun decorations. We receive lots of positive feedback from customers that they love seeing the creativity partners bring to the table, and likewise positive responses from partners who feel more involved with the store and free to express themselves. Why is the company backing away from supporting its LGBT partners? What is there to gain from making every store depressingly identical, with no personality? While Starbucks insists that Corporate policy has not changed, and that this is 'false information' the rule is still being enforced at a regional level in many stores.

I've worked for Starbuck for 12 years, and I proudly helped to lead the organizing at my store, The Elmwood Ave location in Buffalo, NY, which is the first unionized Starbucks in the country. My coworkers and I organized because we want to have a true partnership with Starbucks, to help make it the company we believe it can be.

My name is Daniela, and I’ve been a partner since 2000. Working for this company for over 20 years, I am so disheartened to see where things have ended up. This isn’t the company I started working for at 17 years old. The passion is gone, the third place is gone, the sense that we are working for the good of the community is gone. When I first heard about partners unionizing in Buffalo, I knew it was going to spread like wildfire. It was only a matter of time before my store would join the movement. There are now over 250 Starbucks locations across the country that are looking to unionize to bring the company back to what it once was. 100 of those stores have already won their union votes, despite Corporate's anti-union onslaught. This movement is about partners creating a better workplace for ourselves, and taking back our voice. 250 stores is just the beginning. We demand that Howard Schultz sign our Fair Election Principles because in the end we all want the same thing: to make Starbucks be the best company it can be. It’s terrible to see partners who are making a change for the better, be subjected to bullying, intimidation, and termination. This is not who we are. If you’re a partner who has been watching this campaign from a distance, just know you have the support needed if you ever want to join us and create for your store a better work environment.

Many petitions exist for specific Starbucks issues. Others ask for our support in being pro-union. Some place partners in a precarious situation and so they are afraid to speak up. While it is frowned upon to retaliate against workers, the law is slow, unevenly enforced, and often not harsh enough to deter companies from behaving this way. For example, if an employer is deemed to have wrongfully terminated an employee, they are only required to rehire and “back pay” but they are allowed to dock any wages made at another job during that time. For more information on unfair treatment and the history of the labor movement, I highly recommend Steven Greenhouse’s “Beaten Down, Worked Up” book or the ACLU’s summary on legislation linked below. This petition is for everyone who is cringing at how the company they used to be proud of working for is behaving. For those who want the mud-slinging to stop. For those who want to show their dissent but don’t know how. For partners that have tried talking to their managers and up the chain of command and are tired of dead ends. For anyone who wants corporate to stop closing their eyes with their fingers in their ears— to make them to acknowledge that what they’re doing is ugly and hard to watch, for workers, customers, and onlookers alike. Baristas are pouring their hearts out into #whyweorganize and it is highlighting disturbing trends and actions by a company that hides behind virtue signaling. Other links: - https://inthesetimes.com/article/union-busters-starbucks-labor-buffalo - https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/nlrb-administrative-law-judge-finds-starbucks-illegally-retaliated-against-two - https://www.huffpost.com/entry/starbucks-fired-union-leaders-labor-law_n_6204166be4b083bd1cb94d8f/amp - https://time.com/6150391/starbucks-cassie-fleischer-union-fight/ - https://www.aclu.org/other/collective-bargaining-and-civil-liberties - https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/hialeah/article259339379.html - https://apps.nlrb.gov/IssuedDocument/YOOHM6SZ1O6BCDP5EBWB3Y4ZYWYOUCCDYH2PRYTFGMMSVK34CBT63BE6GV4JDJGN50AB1205

I believe people should join in because it is about freedom of expression. There are many people who have tattoos and colored hair so why not nails. I took a week off from work and was able to finally get nails. I realized that I missed having this part of me throughout the past two years. I felt very confident and I wish I was able to take that to my workplace. Having the freedom to wear nails fulfilled my need for creativity that allows human beings to grow and to represent who they are as an individual.

As a former Barista/Shift Supervisor, I can assure you Baristas work hard for that money. They are subject to ever-evolving rules, regulations, and recipes. They are asked to work at top speed and efficiency, push sales up, and be kind even in extreme situations. They deserve every cent. As a customer, I want to make sure they are rewarded for their service. The traditional reward is tipping.

They make less than a server and do all the servers work for them. It’s not equal pay. And can’t live off 2.83 an hour.

The current coffee academy is not working. Partners can no longer get the title or the apron for being a coffee master. Instead baristas can spend hours completing a free online course on coffee. The program is unpaid and there is no incentive to complete the program. Coffee master used to be one of the coolest parts of working at Starbucks. Partners and customers would look up to coffee masters if they had questions or wanted to learn more about coffee. Coffee masters were there to support and help partners learn more about coffee. Currently, customers are no longer getting their questions answered about how to brew coffee. They can no longer get a roast recommendation based off of their personal preferences. Many partners haven't even tried a majority of Starbucks roasts. Something needs to change.

NBCUniversal has a responsibility to ensure workers’ rights are respected in their supply chains. They must ensure we receive all the money we are owed for making their products, and their profits. The Mae Sot region of Thailand is known to be 'a black hole' in the Thai garment industry, where labour rights violations are common place, and factories routinely take advantage of visa dependent migrant workers. If we win, this can set an important precedent for the future – that brands can’t just walk away, proving the power of collective worker action and global solidarity to ensure justice, even in the darkest corners of the garment industry.

As the largest coffee chain in the world, Starbucks should treat employees above average -- especially since the company is known for taking care of employees. We are a branded coffee name yet employees pay are comparable to coffee houses a fraction of the size of Starbucks. Starbucks is a multibillion dollar company, but it's been reported that it pays an effective tax rate of zero, yet is still unable to pay livable wages to its employees. We have been continually working throughout the pandemic, but the pay is not a livable wage starting at $12 an hour. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many new rules/regulations and restraints implemented. We have new work every day, but we're not seeing a return for that work. At my location, for example, we have a great crew, but morale is starting to go down with many employees feeling as if their work is unappreciated. With the morales of employees going down, we are seeing a direct correlation to our customer connection score (the happiness of our customers). Customers are feeling less like they have a 3rd place, and more like they are just getting rushed thru with less smiles because there is so much more going on behind the bar. Employees deserve to feel they can handle their bills and what ever else they need while working full time at any job, but especially a company as large and profitable as Starbucks.

It is important because committing to sustainability is an important movement that Starbucks claims to be apart of and something they claim to do, when we don't even have recycling bins at the very least. We, as partners, create an absolute ridiculous amount of waste and even half effort could save so much waste from making it to the landfills.

To protect both Starbucks partners and customers as the spread of COVID-19 continues to occur throughout the United States.