Is Nestle a Coffee Brand or Something Else Entirely

Nestle is a packaged food company, not a coffee brand in the narrow sense, though coffee is one of its core categories. The question resurfaces as the unionization wave at Starbucks in the United States continues to build. Starbucks operates more than 9,000 U.S. stores, about 40 percent of the country's chain coffee market, and more than 200 of those locations have filed for union elections.

A BTIG survey of roughly 1,000 U.S. Starbucks customers found that only 4 percent would stop visiting if the union and the company failed to reach an agreement, while 68 percent said unionization would not change how often they buy. Interim CEO Howard Schultz, who is on record opposing unions, called the union an outside force in leaked remarks, and employees cited pay and benefit complaints as reasons for organizing.

The unionization movement at Starbucks in the United States continues to intensify. A video exposed by More Perfect Union shows interim CEO Howard Schultz calling the union an "outside force" trying to disrupt Starbucks and expressing dissatisfaction with part-time partners. Meanwhile, a BTIG survey indicates that most consumers will not change their spending habits because of unionization. Starbucks has more than 9,000 stores in the United States, of which more than 200 have applied for union elections. Schultz has historically opposed unions and once lobbied against the Employee Free Choice Act. The video triggered a large number of negative comments, with employees complaining about pay cuts and emotional belittlement. Under the heavy pressure of post-pandemic supply crises, inflation, and epidemic prevention measures, Starbucks cut costs but did not improve pay and benefits, prompting partners to seek a channel for union negotiations. After Schultz returned, he suspended stock buybacks, but part-time and union partners were excluded from benefits. This incident sparked widespread discussion.

Starbucks' unionization campaign is intensifying on the other side of the Western Hemisphere. Recently, footage exposed by a U.S. media outlet showed that Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz said in a video conference that the union is an "outside force" trying to disrupt Starbucks.

Foreign exchange broker BTIG surveyed about 1,000 Starbucks consumers in the United States and found that only 4% said they would stop patronizing Starbucks if the union and Starbucks failed to reach an agreement; as many as 68% of respondents said that unionization activities at U.S. Starbucks would not affect how often they patronize Starbucks; 13% of consumers said they would patronize Starbucks more frequently if the union gained the upper hand.

Starbucks has more than 9,000 stores in the United States, accounting for 40% of the U.S. chain coffee brand market. Among these more than 9,000 stores, more than 200 have submitted applications for union elections, 27 stores voted in favor of the union, 2 stores voted against the union, and the election results at 9 stores have been certified.

Howard Schultz's disdain for unions has long been known to the world. In his 1999 memoir Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, he wrote: I was convinced that under my leadership, employees would come to realize that I would listen to their concerns. If they had faith in me and my motives, they wouldn't need a union. Later, when the Obama administration sought to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier to form unions, Schultz lobbied against its passage again and again.

On YouTube, there is a 19-minute-and-36-second video leaked by More Perfect Union in which Howard Schultz, in a conversation with several other Starbucks executives, attacked part-time partners at Starbucks as "some kind of outside force" and claimed that they were "desperately trying to damage Starbucks."

Schultz and other executives complained from time to time, called on managers to intervene in the organizing process, and declared that it is workers' right to embrace the company's values and culture rather than a union. Schultz also urged managers to convey talking points to store partners—to "encourage them to understand what voting for a union really means"—and said everyone's vote is crucial.

Under this video, many comments leaned toward the union side.

Among the comments, a commenter who appeared to be a Starbucks partner said they had worked at Starbucks in three regions, had suffered pay cuts twice, as well as emotional belittlement, and felt frustrated hearing Schultz say such things.

Some netizens also left their own suggestion: give partners a base salary of $50,000 a year and managers a base salary of $75,000 a year, and deduct the difference from shareholder profits and executive bonuses, and the union problem can be solved.

The comments basically express workers' dissatisfaction with benefits and the working environment. The occurrence of Starbucks unionization is due to the heavy pressure of the three mountains after the pandemic: the supply crisis, inflation, and epidemic prevention measures. In order to reduce operating costs, the company laid off workers and cut store operating funds, while continuously launching promotional activities to attract large numbers of consumers to spend. Under high-intensity work pressure, pay and benefits remained stagnant. Starbucks partners' requests to the company were ignored, and repeated requests still produced no results, so they began unionization activities, hoping for a channel to negotiate directly with the company.

On his first day back as Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz had to clean up the mess and announced the suspension of the stock buyback plan to invest more funds in employee benefits. However, Starbucks gave a new definition to the word "employee," and part-time partners and partners who joined the union could not enjoy these benefits.

Now that this video has been exposed, partners advocating for a union are actually regarded as an "outside force" of Starbucks. What is your view on such a statement?

Image source: Internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.