A Starbucks worker and union activist said that his location in Santa Cruz, Calif., has an employee turnover rate of about 140 percent due to current working conditions.
Joseph Thomas, a college student and Starbucks barista, is working to unionize employees at the coffee franchise.
Thomas told Hill.TV’s “Rising” that a lack of training and an unwillingness on the part of Starbucks to adapt to the pandemic has resulted in a turnover rate of over 100 percent at the location where he works, meaning the shop is losing employees faster than it can hire them.
“At our store we have a turnover rate of about 140 percent. Out of that, I would say probably over 100 of that is people quitting and that’s because of the terrible working conditions,” Thomas said.
“You know, Starbucks announced wage increases of about five percent for tenured partners, but you know of course inflation was higher than that so it’s not helping people at the end of the day,” he added.
According to Thomas, Starbucks corporate executives are “tone deaf” when it comes to the issues that the company’s employees face during the work day.
Nearly 100 Starbucks locations across the U.S. are currently seeking to unionize after one location in Buffalo, N.Y. voted to become the first to do so in December.
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