To: Howard Schultz, Cliff Burrows

Starbucks, Pay Your Partners A Living Wage

On behalf of all partners working in corporately owned and run stores, what we are payed as starting and tenured employees is not enough to sustain ourselves, and survive the rising costs of living in this great country of ours.

It is our belief that raising everyone to a base level of 10.00 an hour for starting and currently employed partners goes far to ensure a quality of life that will benefit everyone, especially our customers in the long term. When your employees are doing well, your company is doing well.

Giant retailers like Costco and Apple know how important it is to pay their workers a salary that's worth their efforts. Starbucks have led the way in so many areas, but they drag far behind in terms of employee pay. Many people start off at around 8.35 an hour. In 2014, that's unthinkable.

Why is this important?

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.

How it will be delivered

We will email the signatures to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz directly.

Updates

2014-11-12 13:06:38 -0500

I just wanted to take some time to thank everyone who signed this petition. We still haven't reached our early goal of 2k petitioners, but we're on the right path.

As many of you may know, Starbucks announced a dramatic new overhaul of the partner experience which will include a salary increase for all Baristas and Shift Supervisors. This is very exciting news. It's been a long time coming. It is our hope that the average wage for baristas is 10.00 an hour.

We will not know more until January, with the raise increase is poised to take place. We still believe that sick time for EVERY PARTNER is something that's important.

Thank you to everyone who has signed this petition.

2014-09-22 21:02:09 -0400

1,000 signatures reached

2014-09-22 15:15:53 -0400

When I returned to the company as a barista, I was started off at 9.00 an hour, despite my experience, and it was only fair in many regards. Despite working for the BEST store manager I've ever worked for during my time at Starbucks, something was pressing on me. I listened to the conversations around me. I heard what other partners were making. 8.50 an hour, 8.35 an hour. A few of them had children. Some times our customers would bring in baby clothes and formula. I knew that something had to change. Some might want to believe that this is a store issue. Many times the messenger is scrutinized. This is a company wide issue. Many struggle to pay bills. Many, including myself live from tips to tips. I believe wages should go up, not so that we are afforded a life of luxury, rather, so that we can move past surviving, and into the realm of thriving.

2014-09-17 00:58:34 -0400

500 signatures reached

2014-09-16 21:50:09 -0400

I worked for Starbucks as a Shift Supervisor for 4 years. When I left I was making 14.03 an hour. When I came back to the company as a barista, I was awarded 9.00 despite my years of experience. With working 36 hours a week, I couldn't not support myself whatsoever. We are real people with real world issues. We don't get sick time, many of us, despite having medical insurance are a sickness away from disaster. A living wage and sick time are necessities of living in this world. That's what we're after. Thank you everyone who has signed...we have a long way to go.

2014-09-16 11:24:40 -0400

100 signatures reached

2014-09-16 10:43:29 -0400

50 signatures reached

2014-09-16 10:24:28 -0400

25 signatures reached

2014-09-16 10:06:22 -0400

10 signatures reached