Psychological Warfare
This is what I was told to prepare for when organizing at Starbucks.
The backstory… unfortunately in America we have a pay to play healthcare system. Though every other industrialized nation in the world has developed some kind of universal healthcare system that put people’s health as an essential right - America stands alone in its exceptionalism in profiting off peoples illnesses.
And it’s nearly impossible to find a job that will offer you healthcare in a timely fashion - ya know cause healthcare is something that can wait (is my sarcasm coming through). The more ironic thing is that if corporations stopped lobbying against universal healthcare they’d save some money, but they need a way to force us into sh*tty jobs & thus the only way to get & afford healthcare is to work.
Working at Starbucks you can get healthcare but they only pay 16/hr so once that health insurance is taken out of your paycheck and taxes are too - you’re left making about 5/hr. Do you understand how little that is?
For those who say it’s a job for teens - why would we want to pay teens more?! Have you seen the price of college - they need the money most. But it’s not just a job for teens - in fact hardly any teens work there.
If you’ve ever tried negotiating for more pay with a company by yourself, you’d understand how little leverage you have. It doesn’t matter the industry- unless you’re leaving one job for another, you have almost zero leverage. It’s one of the biggest reasons people organize. Because most companies only goal is to make profits. Starbucks can say they are in the business of human connection & human potential, but when their workers show the potential of their power by organizing all of a sudden they go to war with their own people. One of their best ways to make record profit margins, is by paying people shit. Yet, the CEOs & shareholders don’t ever take a pay cut and like to give themselves exorbitant raises. Just look up ceo pay ratios from 1960 to now.
Like at Starbucks, the new ceo got an 8 million dollar sign on bonus. Just for taking the job. Ironic because when I explained my experience managing radio shows, the reason they gave as to why my starting rate would not be more is because I lacked “coffee experience” like wtf… laxxman the new ceo didn’t have coffee experience (he came from Pepsi - what did he have caffeine experience?!) but somehow Moneybucks had zero issues giving him 8 million dollars just to take the job.
They have zero respect for the workers who create the wealth. It’s all about padding each others pockets as a bribe to continue exploiting the working class.
One of the most ironic parts of this story, is before we organized our shop, the manager would often say “we don’t get paid enough for this” - and if you’ve ever been understaffed during rush you’d agree too. Yet when we organize to fight for ourselves for better pay, this manager was THE ONE to lie to coworkers, violate our rights, bribe coworkers with promotions, and tell me that Starbucks will never ever negotiate with you & your efforts are for nothing. In fact, I said you sound like Trump - throwing a ton of lying shit at the wall to see what people will fall for. Right out of the Trump playbook.
It’s odd too - because these managers are working class people. Maybe they have been disillusioned they’re not - but if you work for a living - you’re working class… I love being the one to break it to you. To tweek what Rutger Bregman said to Tucker Carlson, “they’re mouthpieces for the billionaire class”.
Make no mistake, these Union busters are on the wrong side of history, just like before. And their efforts set all movements back (the civil rights, womens, lgbtq+, every movement). If you appreciate that children go to school & don’t work in mines anymore, thank a union. If you like your weekends, thank a Union.
None of their efforts will stop this movement. Like Fred Hampton said, “you can jail a revolutionary, but you can’t jail a revolution”.
Typically…. The worst working conditions (looking at you Jeff Bezos going to space while your employees have to poop in bottles) are the best motivator to organize.
But not many understand what happens when Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, Bob Iger, Howard Shultz feel scared. Because not much scares them - People Organizing is their only fear. So when these money hoarders think they might have to pay people a living wage which equates to 0.002 percent of the companies profits - they declare war (against their own people, the people that make them money everyday - because you know the CEOs & board members aren’t doing any labor. Yet this is not like the Union busting from back in the day, this time it’s with unethical lawyers (littler mendelson) and it’s done through psychological warfare.
Next in Part 2 - Tell the crows to leave me alone…
