Starbucks
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• Starbucks operates almost 10,000 coffee shops in over 30 countries, and sells coffee drinks and beans, pastries, and other food items and beverages.
• Starbucks has made some contributions to struggling coffee farmers by increasing its purchases of Fair Trade Certified ™ coffee, but these purchases still comprise only a fraction of the company's sales.
• Starbucks has been criticized regarding fair employment issues and for its use of dairy products containing bovine growth hormone.
• Demand more Fair Trade coffee at Starbucks and visit Go Green to find alternative companies that fully support Fair Trade.
-- Profile Updated 07/01/2010
About Starbucks
Based in Seattle, Starbucks operates almost 10,000 coffee shops in over 30 countries. It sells coffee drinks and beans, pastries and other food items and beverages, as well as mugs, coffeemakers, coffee grinders, and storage containers at stores under the name Starbuck's, Seattle's Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia. The company also sells its beans to more than 4,200 restaurants, businesses, airlines, and hotels. In 2005 the company reported revenues of $6.37 billion and employed 96,700 people.
Campaigns
Tell Starbucks to Support Fair Trade
Send an e-mail to CEO Jim Donald to put the pressure on Starbucks to remove genetically engineered ingredients from their food and dairy products on a worldwide basis…
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Send an e-mail to CEO Jim Donald to put the pressure on Starbucks to remove genetically engineered ingredients from their food and dairy products on a worldwide basis, improve working conditions for coffee plantation workers, and brew and seriously promote Fair Trade coffee in all of their cafes.
www.organicconsumers.org/starbucks/downloads.cfm#fax
Global Exchange Starbucks Campaign
The Starbucks Fair Trade Campaign endorsed by Global Exchange and Organic Consumers Association calls on Starbucks to spur market demand for Fair Trade coffee by increasing the percentage of its overall Fair Trade coffee purchases…
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The Starbucks Fair Trade Campaign endorsed by Global Exchange and Organic Consumers Association calls on Starbucks to spur market demand for Fair Trade coffee by increasing the percentage of its overall Fair Trade coffee purchases. The campaign urges consumers to demand that Starbucks executives purchase more Fair Trade coffee, and to buy coffee at non-franchise sources until major corporations such as Starbucks change their practices. The campaign also requests that Starbucks offer rBGH-free milk and ban GMOs in its products.
www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/starbucks.html
Affiliates
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SBI Nevada, Inc. - Las Vegas, NV
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Seattle Coffee Company (Subsidiary) - Seattle, WA
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Starbucks Coffee Company UK Ltd. - London, United Kingdom
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Starbucks Coffee Company UK Ltd. - London, United Kingdom
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Starbucks Coffee EMEA BV - Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Starbucks Coffee Trading Company Sarl - Lausanne, Switzerland
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Tazo Tea Company - Portland, OR
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Urban Coffee Opportunities, LLC - Seattle, WA
Contact Starbucks
Starbucks
Seattle, WA 98134
USA
Phone: 206-447-1575
Web: www.starbucks.com
Compare Starbucks to other companies in these industries
Beverage/Water
Coffee
Alerts
Labor
Starbucks employees in California recently settled a suit for more than $100 million, alleging that Starbucks misallocated tips in…
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Starbucks employees in California recently settled a suit for more than $100 million, alleging that Starbucks misallocated tips in violation of a state law that prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee tips.
-- Los Angles Times, 03/21/2008
Source URL: www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-starbucks21mar21,0,50639.story
In March 2006, tens of thousands workers in export factories surrounding Ho Chi Minh City took part in a wave of massive strikes t…
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In March 2006, tens of thousands workers in export factories surrounding Ho Chi Minh City took part in a wave of massive strikes to protest low pay and poor working conditions. Among the protesters were employees of Danu Vina Corporation, which manufactures stuffed animals to be sold in the U.S. by Hallmark, Disney, and Starbucks. Workers at Danu Vina Corporation earn less than $2 per day.
-- Corporate Watch, 03/01/2006
Source URL: www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13358
In July 2004, two Starbucks store managers in Florida initiated a lawsuit against the company claiming that they should be eligibl…
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In July 2004, two Starbucks store managers in Florida initiated a lawsuit against the company claiming that they should be eligible for overtime pay. The plaintiffs argue that, as managers, their typical duties are no different from that of regular employees who are entitled to overtime pay for overtime work. However, Starbucks managers are exempt from overtime wages because their pay is based on a fixed salary. Managers in the case claim that the company should amend this policy because the current system takes advantage of employees in managerial positions at Starbucks stores.
-- Puget Sound Business Journal, 01/10/2005
Source URL: www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2005/01/10/daily6.html
The Starbucks Baristas Union and Global Exchange are pressuring Starbucks to increase the amount of "fair-trade-certified" coffee …
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The Starbucks Baristas Union and Global Exchange are pressuring Starbucks to increase the amount of "fair-trade-certified" coffee it purchases from one percent to five percent. The Starbucks Baristas Union was formed in May of 2004 to protest working conditions, which include low wages and difficulty getting health benefits from the company. "We see our struggles for humane wages and working conditions as united," said Daniel Gross, a union spokesperson. "No longer will Starbucks be allowed to run roughshod over its baristas or coffee farmers."
-- Global Exchange, 07/01/2004
Source URL: www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2223.html
The Organic Consumers Association--a Minnesota-based, online, grassroots nonprofit which campaigns for health, justice and sustain…
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The Organic Consumers Association--a Minnesota-based, online, grassroots nonprofit which campaigns for health, justice and sustainablity--claims that Starbucks can make a better effort at purchasing Fair Trade products. "Despite repeated pledges, Starbucks is still buying coffee and chocolate produced under exploitative labour conditions and in the case of cocoa plantations in Africa, workers who are actually slaves." According to Global Exchange, Starbucks buys over 100 million pounds of coffee each year, yet less than one percent is purchased from coffee farmers who are guaranteed a living wage.
-- Scotland on Sunday, 05/04/2003
Source URL: http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/20
Environment
A 2006 report by the Connecticut-based Container Recycling Institute which is a nonprofit dedicated to increasing recovery and rec…
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A 2006 report by the Connecticut-based Container Recycling Institute which is a nonprofit dedicated to increasing recovery and recycling of beverage containers and San Francisco-based nonprofit As You Sow which aims to promote corporate accountability, grades America’s top beverage companies on their efforts to use recycled content, increase recovery and recycling, and reduce the amount of material used in beverage containers. Starbucks earned F’s in every area surveyed except recycled content. The company received a D in that category for incorporating 10 percent post-consumer recycled paper in its hot drink cups. Starbucks scored an F grade overall, with a GPA of 0.3 (on a 4.0 scale).
-- Container Recycling Institute, 10/01/2006
Source URL: container-recycling.org/assets/pdfs/reports/2006-scorecard.pdf
The Green Life, a nonprofit organization based in Boston, MA, that aims to guard against corporate greenwashing and build a sustai…
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The Green Life, a nonprofit organization based in Boston, MA, that aims to guard against corporate greenwashing and build a sustainable consumer movement, named Starbucks as One of the "Ten Worst Greenwashers of 2003" for "for failing to adhere to its Environmental Mission Statement by slipping from industry leader to laggard on Fair Trade, and for adopting a patchwork approach to sustainability through its 'Commitment to Origins' line of coffees."
-- Green Life, 04/01/2004
Source URL: www.thegreenlifeonline.org/news_4_1_04.html
Health and Safety
Starbucks won't ban guns in their stores. In some "open carry" states, businesses have the power to refuse guns in their stores, b…
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Starbucks won't ban guns in their stores. In some "open carry" states, businesses have the power to refuse guns in their stores, but Starbuck's won't be one of them. According to a statement this month, Starbucks follow states and local laws and have their own system to measure safety in their stores. Read more about this in the Guardian blog.
-- The Guardian (London), 03/01/2010
Source URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/mar/01/guns-st...
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) is investigating the perflourooctanoic acid (PFOA) family of manufacturing chemicals,…
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The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) is investigating the perflourooctanoic acid (PFOA) family of manufacturing chemicals, which are known to contain the potentially hazardous chemical C-8. In July 2003, the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, DC-based environmental organization whose mission is to expose health and environmental threats and to find solutions, asked food chains, including Starbucks, to disclose whether the food packaging products they use contain a chemical coating made of fluorinated telomers, which can break down into PFOA upon ingestion. DuPont, the first manufacturer of Teflon, which is produced with C-8, claims the chemical is not harmful to humans, but it has been found to cause reproductive and developmental problems in laboratory animals. As of October 2003, Starbucks had not replied to EWG inquiries about the contents of its packaging materials.
-- Environmental Working Group, 12/16/2003
Source URL: http://www.ewg.org/node/16595
Ethics and Governance
Christine Drake, a Seattle woman with psychiatric disabilities, is charging Starbucks Coffee Co.…
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Christine Drake, a Seattle woman with psychiatric disabilities, is charging Starbucks Coffee Co. with decreasing her hours, berating her in front of customers, and failing to accommodate her special needs before firing her in 2004. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is requesting Starbucks to pay Drake $40,000 in lost wages. Should the case go before a jury, Starbucks could pay up to $300,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.
-- Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 09/01/2006
Source URL: seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/285189_starbucks15.html
Human Rights
Despite claims that the company would improve the wages and working conditions of impoverished workers on coffee plantations in Gu…
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Despite claims that the company would improve the wages and working conditions of impoverished workers on coffee plantations in Guatemala and elsewhere, Starbucks still refuses to provide human rights monitors with information about where and how the company has made improvements. Critics say that there is little evidence that any improvement programs have been implemented.
-- U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project, 03/01/2004
Source URL: usleap.org/node/424
