Labor Laws and Workers Union at Starbucks
Amin Shomaf
HRM 531
December 9, 2012
Terri Trent
Working at Starbucks
According to new survey by Accounting Principals, more than half of American workers spend about $1,000 a year on their coffee (Torabi, 2012). Starbucks harvests the lion’s share of this rapidly growing market and its latest financial results for the fiscal year 2012, ended September 30 with a record earnings of $13.3 billion (Starbucks, 2012) is a clear indication of Starbucks growth and leading status.
As a leading company, Starbucks faces many challenges relating to labor laws and employment. The student will discuss some of these challenges and analyze possible impacts of Starbucks and its employees.
Starbucks’s Labor Law’s Challenges
Starbucks is the leading company in the coffee industry with more than 18,000 stores around the world (Starbucks, 2012). Starbucks has strong financials, with increasing revenues and profits. Revenue increased from $9.8 billion in 2009, to $10.7 billion in 2010, and $11.7 billion in 2011, and $13.3 billion in 2012 (Starbucks, 2012). Starbucks is also known for its high quality products, innovation, and has strong and positive brand recognition.
One of the legal challenges for Starbucks is compliance with labor and employment laws. With more than 145,000 employees (Starbucks, 2012), Starbucks is faced with potential litigations for discrimination on the base of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin by federal laws such as the Civil Rights Act (1871) or the Equal Pay Act (1963). With the increasing numbers of stores and geographic locations, Starbucks must also comply with state and local regulations in addition to different countries labor laws and regulations. For example, from 2006 to 2009, Starbucks agreed to six labor settlements (Allison, 2009) in the United States.
To minimize the possible litigation Starbucks must establish labor and employment policies and procedures in all regions and...