The Press Stories
Starbucks employees have won a small battle. This Tuesday, the American coffee chain announced a series of measures, including a pay rise for its employees, while the group has been enjoying the union movement. The coffee chain has expanded the range of wage hikes it has already announced: it plans to raise the minimum wage in the United States to $ 15 an hour (14 euros) an hour on August 1st.
The minimum wage is currently $ 7.25 per hour at the federal level, although a few states, mostly Democrats, have already raised it to $ 15 an hour, as demanded by the unions. This highly ambitious pay rise will benefit from an additional $ 200 million envelope in conjunction with the branch conversion plan (bringing the commitment cost to $ 1 billion by 2022).
The announcements come at a time when the American company is facing unprecedented winds of unionization in its history: since the end of 2021, the employees of the 250 cafes in the chain have begun to form a union called Starbucks Workers United. About 47 union branches have already been formed.
Howard Schultz, who assumed leadership in early April during a conference call to present the results, elaborated on why he opposes the union approach domestically. Company. “These young people have the right concerns,” the 60-year-old said. They see this new union movement as a viable solution. However, we have a very different attitude and a very positive outlook for our company, which is based on listening, communication and collaboration.
“Our values are not the result of the intervention of an outside company and have never been,” the company affirmed Howard Schultz, adding that union aspirations were not motivated by employees but by those outside the company.
Ability to make tips when ordering
Starbucks plans to launch new employee-friendly initiatives in September, such as the ability to tip when ordering online or a revenue-sharing system.
Howard Schultz noted that these new rules only apply to non-union cafes. These changes cannot be used unilaterally and effectively when there is a union because negotiations must be entered first. But the information, if it only recalls the texts in practice, may have sounded like another argument to prevent Starbucks employees from being collectively organized.
On Tuesday, American takeaway coffee company also released its results for the first quarter of 2022, with revenue up 14% to $ 7.6 billion. A sharp increase in its costs, goods or wages, has significantly eroded the margins, and net profit increased by only 2% to $ 674 million.
Starbucks expects disruptions in China in the second quarter of 2022 and beyond, prompting it not to issue guidelines for the current fiscal year. To compensate, the chain was able to trust the power of North America, where sales rose 12%, thanks to higher prices and better visits.
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