For those who work at Starbucks

[Renny]

From http://www.starbucksunion.org/

A Message from the Starbucks Workers Union:

February 10, 2006

Religious Discrimination

For the second time in as many months, Starbucks management has kicked SWU member Suley Ayala out of the workplace for wearing her modest Pentagram necklace. Ms. Ayala is a practicing Wiccan and as a religious observance never takes off the necklace. She wore the necklace at Starbucks without interruption for three years until the company started harassing her after she and a group of her co-workers went public as members of the Starbucks Workers Union on November 18, 2005. Since then various management officials have badgered her and sent her home for refusing to take off the necklace. Ms. Ayala is extremely distraught and understandably angry. Management can't even get its story straight, sometimes saying no religious symbols are allowed and other times saying the necklace is too distracting. All the while, baristas wearing crosses of the same modest size have never been disciplined. Our opinion is that Starbucks is exploiting Suley's non-traditional religion to retaliate against her for union activity.

The Fight Back

As a mother of four working hard to make ends meet, being disrespected by the company and losing a day's earnings are the last things Ms. Ayala needs. We're asking people of good will from all religions or no religion at all to join our fight. An indigenous Ecuadorian, Suley has struggled hard to win material gains on the job for her family and she's not about to back down on her right to freely practice her religion.

Last Tuesday after Suley was sent home following a lull in the harassment, a co-worker and fellow union member asked her for the necklace. Tomer Malchi, a Jew, put the necklace on and he too was confronted by management. In a moving act, Mr. Malchi refused to take off the Pentagram in solidarity with his sister worker. He was ousted from the workplace. Since then SWU members and supporters have been leafleting in front of the store to get the word out about Starbucks' reprehensible conduct. Suley Ayala has filed a religious discrimination complaint against Starbucks with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. However, the government won't win this fight for us, grassroots action will. In response to the union's outrage, Starbucks has backed down a bit. Management now says that Ms. Ayala can wear a miniature version of the Pentagram. But that's not enough. Suley wore her Pentagram without incident for three years. Why should she be arbitrarily disciplined now that she is a union member? We demand that she be allowed to wear her original Pentagram and receive compensation for the days she was sent home early.

Take Action

Before we formed the Starbucks Workers Union, the tyrants at the company could treat us like servants and we had no recourse to fight back. No longer. We will not tolerate religious discrimination against any of our members whether Wiccan, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist or atheist, or any other world view. Please take a stand with us for religious liberty in the workplace. Together we can create a truly global labor movement.

Call Starbucks District Manager Kim Vetrano NOW and demand that Suley be allowed to freely observe her religion while at work and that she be compensated for the work hours she missed:

Phone: (646) 256-9929
E-Mail: kvetrano@starbucks.com
Fax: (917)591-8599

Stay Connected at www.starbucksunion.org


Has anyone else heard about this? I just recently started working at Starbucks and I like it alot. However I think this is wrong and I want to write a letter to them. As an employee I want to make my voice heard. I'm not sure what to say at this point.

Thoughts? Suggestions on what I should say in my letter?

[Malcolm]

I worked for Starbucks once. You should quit now.

[Alora]

This is important for all Pagans to read. I'm sending them a letter. Thank you for posting this.

[Morrigan_Wolfwind]

:fpatricks And to think I wanted to get a JOB as a barista when I was older! This almost makes me want to stop going to Starbucks... But the one I go to seems pretty tolerant, since some of the workers have dyed hair and/or tattoos. All they have to do is wear long sleeves or wear a hat, I'm sure wearing a pentacle necklace wouldn't be that extreme.

I feel sorry for that woman, and the logic of those people really confuses me. If she's worn a pentacle/pentagram for THREE YEARS, what difference would joining a union make?

[StormVixen]

a friend of mine got fired (cant think of the word) unfairly.. i guess... she didnt do anything wrong... they jus didnt like her

[materra]

Don't come to Arizona ...you can be fired for looking crosseyed or breathing funny. No, I am not kidding. This is a "no reason needed to fire you" state. It's called "at will" employment.

[LadyCelt]

Its more likely that its the particular store and not the whole company doing things like that.

[Nitefalle]

:I feel sorry for that woman, and the logic of those people really confuses me. If she's worn a pentacle/pentagram for THREE YEARS, what difference would joining a union make?

It makes all the difference in the world!!! She's not just one little employee that they can ignore any more, she's part of a union, part of a machine that actually has the power to give the company all sorts of legal grief. Although, I'm surprised she hasn't filed grievance with her union, yet. She doesn't seem to be going through all the channels at her disposal.

I feel for her. I am being treated unfairly by my direct manager right now, though not for any religious reason. I don't belong to a union, but I'm starting to see the reasons for them. Don't think that just because Starbucks does things for the community and gives back to the earth and ecological organizations that it won't treat it's employees like crap. I work for a company much like Starbucks, that I first joined because of their supposed company values. Now I see it's all a bunch of bullsh*t. Companies like that don't care how they treat employees, they only care how they look on paper and about the almighty dollar.

[LostSheep]

We let these companies get so big that they think no one can touch 'em, so they're bound to start thinking they can do what the heck they like and no one can make the slightest difference to their profits. They can pretend to be all caring and cuddly and eco friendly and even let the staff have dyed hair, but they're all just a cog in the machine, a profit generating unit, that's all. I can only echo what Malcolm said.

[jcldragon]

I'd never pay that much for coffee anyway...

[Ron]

hehe. Book worms and hot liquids in public places.

Coffee smells awful anyway. May Justice prevail.

[The Lady]

I sent my letter.

[Jenne]

Huh. I good friend of mine, a Pagan no less, works for Starbux...wonder what her take on this is. She's a store manager, no less.

[Ron]

:fofftopic:
Starbux
When the word is written like that it reminds me of gambling; it sounds like some sort of gaming token put out by some company that is trying to scam you.

Maybe there is a deeper meaning to that.

[gwendar]

Wow. That's pretty nuts.
I worked at the only Starbucks in the province (haha, we're small) from September - December 2005 and loved it! I can't imagine that happening. Actually, I don't think our manager would have known what a pentacle was, and if he did he wouldn't care. Man... he was awesome!

Anyway, I don't have any suggestions as to what you should write in your letter, but I think you should probably go for it.