When I worked extra hours at Starbucks in California, I received overtime pay because of state laws. But when I transferred to another Starbucks in North Carolina, I no longer received overtime pay even though I have been working extra hours in my new location. As overtime pay regulations often vary by state, Starbucks partners in many locations don't receive the same compensation for working long hours. A lot of us put our personal lives on hold and for different reasons when we have to stay at work longer. We love the company and love what we do, but we're not paid equally across the United States. Please join me in asking Starbucks to address this disparity by providing overtime pay to all partners across the country regardless of where we live.

We need an income to support our family. Living off of what they pay isn't enough to pay all the bills, buy food and buy our kids their necessitys. I am the soul provider for a family of 5 and its very hard to have a decent living with what I get paid. I know many supervisors who feel the same way. We need to be valued and be showed appreciation for everything we do. Getting change as a raise is ridiculous when Starbucks is a multi million dollar company.

My life is hectic but I manage to make it all work. I go to school at night and -- until July -- worked two part time jobs to make ends meet. One of my jobs was working as a barista for more than 2 years at a Starbucks in New Haven, CT. At Starbucks, I often worked back to back closing and then opening shifts - with 7 or 8 hours between shifts. Among Starbucks baristas this is known as a "clopening." Last year, my store didn’t have a manager so I was clopening more than 6 times a month! Lately, because of my second job, I clopened 1-2 times a month. And because of high turnover in the store, my boss started scheduling me wherever they needed me instead of taking into account my second job and school schedules. In July, I was called in to work at the last minute, even though I was needed at my other job. My manager wrote me up because I was unable to get a replacement for a time I wasn't even scheduled for. This isn’t right - my time counts. And when the store was understaffed on closing shifts, I was forced to stay even later than my scheduled shift in order to make sure the store was ready to open for the morning rush. Because I was frequently scheduled for clopening shifts, I got just 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night. I was doing all I could to get ahead, but Starbucks’ scheduling practices made me question whether that was possible and I parted ways with Starbucks. Even though I no longer work there, I know I am not the only partner struggling with these issues. I want to help all my former coworkers by asking the company to give workers 11 hours of rest between shifts in all U.S. stores, across the board so we aren’t at the mercy of individual managers Many of us have different experiences at Starbucks, depending on our manager. Please join me in asking Starbucks for consistent protections across the company, starting with healthy schedules across the board.

We each hail from Milwaukee – a city we love deeply. Yet every day, we're faced with the reality that systemic racism, police brutality, and a lack of good jobs have made our community home to both the highest incarceration rate for African Americans and the highest joblessness rate for Black men in the country.

 Roughly 40% of Starbucks' workforce are people of color – yet just 15% of its executives are of color. And in Milwaukee, which is a majority people of color city, African American employees are scarce in Howard Schultz's workforce. Clearly, there is plenty of work for Starbucks to do in its own house. We've each laid out some of our thoughts below.

 From Joe:

 I've worked at Starbucks for three years, and have lived and worked in Milwaukee for the past six months. My crew is excellent, and we support each other through tough days and busy shifts. The people in my store understand the challenges facing the patrons we serve. We are part of our community and we understand its needs. I also know that Starbucks – as a corporate entity – can do a lot more for its workers, customers and the communities it serves.

 During the week of March 16th, my manager distributed a roll of stickers and passed around a handout detailing the new "Race Together" initiative. I was shocked – it seemed so hypocritical when Starbucks employs thousands of baristas of color in jobs that pay poverty wages with too few hours to survive. Why not raise wages so that every barista makes at least $15 an hour and has access to stable, full-time work?
 If the company really cared about racial justice, they would look at the diversity of its workforce. Here in Milwaukee, it's hard to miss the fact that most of the Starbucks employees in this majority people of color city are white. Starbucks should be part of the solution by hiring more people of color in our city and giving these employees jobs that can support a family.

 From Nate:

 When we first learned of Starbucks' new "Race Together" campaign, we were kind of appalled. My brother, Dontre Hamilton, was shot 14 times by police after Starbucks employees repeatedly called the police on him. The people of Milwaukee have been protesting and petitioning for months for Starbucks to meet with us to discuss its role in the killing of my brother, and to help us heal and find a solution so that this tragedy never happens again. We've been asking the Starbucks CEO to speak out in support of our efforts, but have seen little in response.

 I've lived in Milwaukee most of my life and I feel Milwaukee can and must do better. What happened at the Red Arrow Starbucks is a symptom of the lack of investment and opportunity for black folks in Milwaukee. Starbucks has an important role to play here.

 By asking employees – without training or support – to engage in dialogue with total strangers about this deeply personal issue, you’re revealing just how little you understand about white privilege and systemic racism. My brother's tragic killing was an opportunity to initiate a frank conversation about the diversity of Starbucks employees, your policies and practices when dealing with diverse communities, and the impact racial bias, profiling and inequality have on your stores. Instead, corporate has done next to nothing but write #RaceTogether on a cup.

 Howard Schultz has announced that he's coming to Milwaukee on April 1st. I'd like Schultz to commit to real solutions during that visit – not gimmicks. The practices that led to the death of Dontre are being repeated in stores across the country. This isn't a Milwaukee problem, it's a company-wide problem. If Schultz wants to address racism he can start by making meaningful changes in his own business practices, by setting company wide protocols for dealing with diverse communities and by creating good jobs for our communities.

This is very important for generations to come. If we continue to produce waste day after day, month after month and year after year; our planet will be just that; a waste. Let's all work together and recycle more to give more generations a chance at life. Lead By Example. Actions Speak Louder Than Words.

Starbucks is not an easy job, it's hard on your body as well as your mind, and the stress leaves us exhausted. Even part-time employees work because they need the money, but everyone should be given the ability to take time off to vacation with loved ones or take time to regroup and energize, and a mere few hours does not suffice. Personal days are equally important. Life happens. Life doesn't follow a schedule. Things that are out of our control sometimes come up last minute. Employees should not have to sacrifice their pay and potentially threaten their ability to pay their bills, because of a family emergency or the like.

I have to save some of my vacation every year just in case I get sick. I am a working partner who can't afford to stay home when I am sick.

Over the course of 2014, Starbucks Coffee was in the news on a regular basis. Whether it was a partner (aka, a Starbucks employee) that was struggling with her wages and hours, or a strangely uneven HBO Starbucks-produced tribute to America’s veterans, there’s been no shortage of media attention thrown the way of the coffee siren. Most notably Starbucks turned heads by changing its tattoo policy, finally allowing its employees the ability to show off their ink without having to cover them all day, every day. Much rejoicing was heard, it was an exciting time for many employees as most believed the archaic policy would never move. It did. Further steps were announced by Starbucks corporate. Pay would be changing. In the middle of the hype over the tattoo policy changes, and some calling for higher wages, Starbucks took the lead announcing that pay would increase for a large portion of its US employees. Excitement began to boil again. At a time in US history when stagnant worker wages are at an all time high, and protests are happening from coast to coast, the powers that be at Starbucks headquarters realized [and wisely so] that they had to move first. Move they did. At the end of January, news began to trickle out about these wages. Many Starbucks partners believed and hoped that wages would be raised significantly. Some defended the current wages as being enough. Reading through unofficial Starbucks partner Facebook pages, it became evident that for very few, the initial wage would be substantial, but for partners that have been employed for 1-3 years, they would be put at the new wage base level [which is different per state, per region]. Much of the work many partners put in for their wages would be wiped clean, even starting partners would be paid the same as they would, a gross inequality in a growing number of voices as seen through social media. THE BREAK DOWN (How it used to work) Typically, Starbucks employees were eligible for raises every six months, something no other company was doing up until that point. This system worked. What wasn't working were starting wages and wage caps. Starbucks as a company, like many other companies, falls far behind in paying their workers a livable wage. Many of its employees, struggle to pay their bills week to week. Many live with family or in roommate situations. (How it works now) Now, Starbucks baristas and shift supervisors are eligible for one raise a year, slowing down their rate of pay. The starting wages being reported are a good beginning for the multi-billion dollar company, but in their decision making process, they have failed to account for what will probably amount to tens of thousands of their employees who are now placed at the beginning of the wage system, just to get one raise a year. Tempers are hot. In the scheme of things, Starbucks gets most things right. They offer their employees health benefits, free drinks, a pound of coffee a week, stock options, and a competitive 401k among other things. Most American businesses should be looking at Starbucks as an example of how you treat the people who are actually responsible for the customer connection which brings in the record earnings every quarter. The new wage benefits are promising, a step in the right direction. It would be wise for the decision makers on a corporate level to not throw their mid-term or mid-tenure employees under the bus when premiering new wages. There was a lot of hype around the wage increase, but as you would see if you joined certain Starbucks barista social media groups, a bill of goods was sold and hyped that actually ended up slowing the pace of wage earning, and starting off experienced workers as if they were new. Starbucks now has a worker relations mess on their hands. This petition is to Starbucks for a fair wage increase for partners tenured one year or more. You do not have to be a barista to sign this petition. Although, if you are, I recommend that you share this with your fellow baristas, family and friends. You can share this petition by copying and pasting the link below. http://www.coworker.org/p/fairwageincrease A special thanks to Jill Deblasio!

The Starbucks mission statement is: "Our mission: to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time." Starbucks is place where partners are unique and should be able to show their true selves. How are they going to do it if they can't color their hair how they want? Sometimes color shows the person's true self. Allowing tattoos and nose piercings was a good first step but now let's allow unnatural hair color. Variety in a workplace is always great! Wouldn't you want to have some red, purple, green, or maybe pink in your hair?

We deserve to have holiday time with our families. It is very important to allow us to have Christmas and Thanksgiving off.

As a young child I wanted to have pink hair and was never able to due to my parents disapproval of an unnatural hair color. Once I was on my own I thought I would finally be able to go through with it. I soon found out that finding a job in which I could actually have pink hair was almost impossible. I now have my pink hair and I love it. However I have to wear an itchy wig to cover it up. I love my job and I love my regulars. I come by on my days off and people always compliment my "cotton candy" hair; it's something that makes me who I am and think I should be allowed to be that person always.

This is important because it's fair. Starbucks is making record profits. Earnings reports has profits the highest they have ever been (http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexadavis/2014/07/24/starbucks-sizzling-profits-get-cool-reception/) In years past, employees would be granted a personal day every quarter as well as sick time being available. After the financial crisis, personal and sick days went away, never to return. If partners get sick, they have to use their precious vacation time to make up the difference. The speed at which employees accrue vacation time was also cut down, so it takes longer to make enough to cover one day. Starbucks should and can do better. Starbucks Baristas operate their stores. It's non management that is responsible for creating that coveted third place environment (the space between home and work) that's so essential and so important to our loyal and wonderful customers. The larger percentage of Starbucks employees struggle to live from week to week. As amazing as the entire benefits package is, free coffee doesn't pay the bills. Free stock won't put gas in our car. Free tuition doesn't ensure a quality of life where many of us scrape by from week to week, just to afford food and gas.