Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation, based in Seattle, Washington, U.S., has 13,000 coffee shops in more than 35 countries around the world, including countries in Latin America and the Middle East. Besides Starbucks, brands include Seattle's Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia coffee. In 2006, sales were US$7.8 billion with profits of US$564 million.


 * Peter Maslen - former president

Overview
In June 2004 Starbucks announced that they had hired Cone (a PR firm) to assist in a strategy of blunting criticism of the company's over its standards in the sourcing of coffee beans. According to a media release Cone's role is to "develop a vision, strategy and plan that will enhance the visibility of the company's focus on the role of corporate social responsibility in coffee purchasing". 

Sandra Taylor, senior vice president of corporate social responsibility for Starbucks, is overseeing the project.

According to The Holmes Report earlier this year Starbucks "hosted more than 20 organizations to solicit feedback from stakeholders on its revised coffee sourcing guidelines and preferred supplier program. Participants included representatives of Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, Oxfam America, TransFair USA, US AID, and Conservation International, in a meeting facilitated by the consultancy SustainAbility." 

David Olsen is Senior Vice President.

Union busting
On August 6, 2007, "when opening statements are set to begin in the trial over Starbucks' anti-union operation, in some ways corporate social responsibility itself will be on trial," Daniel Gross wrote for Counterpunch. The case, before the National Labor Relations Board in New York, deals with a number of union busting activities by Starbucks, such as the firing of three baristas who were organizing a union, including Gross himself. 

"Socially responsible Starbucks faced an eerily similar complaint from the Labor Board less than a year and a half ago," Gross noted. "To avoid the spotlight of a public trial, Starbucks settled the entirety of the charges against it. Among other things, the company was forced to reinstate two IWW [Industrial Workers of the World] baristas it discharged for union activity. This 'progressive employer' also had to rescind policies prohibiting the wearing of union buttons and sharing written union information on company property." 

"Why are workers organizing at this darling of the corporate media?" Gross asked. "Starbucks workers struggle to make ends meet with a poverty wage of around $7 or $8 per hour. ... The total number of full-time hourly café employees at Starbucks is zero. ... The company boasts about its health care plan but its own data reveal that it insures a lower percentage of employees than Wal-Mart." Gross concluded, "Activists can and do make use of CSR [corporate social responsibility] by pointing out the hypocrisy behind the big brands. But that's about all CSR is good for." 

Lobbying
Starbucks spent $160,000 for lobbying in the first half of 2007.

Bottled water
In 2005, Starbucks acquired a bottled water company called Ethos which markets itself as a "brand with a social mission -- helping children around the world get clean water and raising awareness of the World Water Crisis." For every $1.80 bottle of Ethos water sold, Ethos and Starbucks donate five cents to a programs to help people in Africa gain access to clean and safe water. In March, 2008, Advertising Age reported that Pepsi Cola was partnering with Starbucks' Ethos Water and movie star Matt Damon, who promotes a charity called H2O Africa, to promote the water. Critics of the program charge that Starbucks is exploiting a humanitarian crisis in Africa to sell more bottled water in the U.S.

Personnel
Selected members of the Board of Directors:
 * Olden Lee, PepsiCo, Inc., retired executive
 * Myron Ullman III, J. C. Penney Company, Inc. chairman and chief executive officer
 * Craig Weatherup, Pepsi-Cola Company, retired chief executive officer

Contact details
2401 Utah Avenue South Seattle, WA 98134 USA Phone: 206-447-1575 Fax: 206-447-0828 Web: http://www.starbucks.com

Other Criticism

 * Daniel Gross, "Corporate Social Responsibility on Trial: Starbucks Behind the Brand," CounterPunch, August 4 / 5, 2007.
 * Dawn Paley, "Starbucks Carbon-Neutral Coffee", Watershed Sentinel, Sept.Oct 2011.