As Starbucks stores around the country continue to unionize, a prominent U.S. Senator received a rockstar’s welcome in Richmond, where he went to galvanize employees of the coffee retail giant.
“It is an honor for me to be here,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told the crowd, “because you are extraordinary American heroes and heroines.
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A Starbucks in Tennessee became the first store in the state to join what has become a nationwide movement among the coffee chain giant’s employees to unionize.
“The Merchants Drive Starbucks in Knoxville, Tennessee just WON their union vote and will become the first unionized Starbucks store in the south,” Starbucks Workers United announced Tuesday on Twitter.
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Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced Friday that he would not pursue a 2020 presidential bid.
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by Evie Fordham Possible 2020 candidate Howard Schultz, who has teased a run as an independent for months, said Thursday he does not believe abortion should occur in the third trimester. “I recognize that every woman has — this is such a personal issue, and it’s between her and her god as to what that decision should be, and in my view there should be no abortion that is in the last trimester,” Schultz said during a town hall that aired on Fox News. He said the Supreme Court has already decided the abortion question “in many ways” and seemed reluctant to call himself pro-choice, saying, “I have been a person that is pro-choice.” “President Clinton said something a long time ago that I think does apply, and he said abortion should be safe, legal and rare. And that’s where I am. Thank you very much,” Schultz continued. Moderator Martha MacCallum followed up by asking the former Starbucks CEO if he was afraid he would lose support on the right by describing himself as pro-choice. “Do you worry at all that, you know, when you want to court Republicans, that even just being pro-choice is going to cross you…
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by Karl Notturno Over the past two weeks, Senators Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have both announced they will run for president in 2020. These announcements and the media’s reaction to them were as predictable as the well written but vapid speeches and well produced but fluffy videos that accompanied them. We knew that Harris and Booker would jump into the race together from the moment we watched them trying to out-president each other in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room last fall. And we knew they would give impassioned sermons on progressive values, filled with empty platitudes and tired rhetorical devices. We also knew the media would hang on their every word and cover them in continuous (if manufactured) glory. Predictable narratives are predictable. So, it also shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Mika Brzezinski and the other clowns at “Morning Joe” would interrogate potential independent candidate Howard Schultz on the price of a box of Cheerios. It’s possible that they were still upset that Starbucks stopped sponsoring their show in 2013, but it’s more likely that they were trying to produce another “What is Aleppo?” moment. Even though Schultz handled himself much better than Gary…
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Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is not mincing words when it comes to former Starbucks CEO, and 2020 independent candidate hopeful, Howard Schultz. Within 24 hours of launching his “Dignity of Work” tour, Brown told a group of voters that Schultz was a “total idiot.” Strangely, the Senator was not prompted, in any way, as to what his opinion on Schultz was. The broadside came on Friday during a farmers roundtable in Perry, Iowa. When a voter expressed his concern with dark money and PACs during the 2020 cycle, Brown interjected: “Yeah, I mean you got this idiot Schultz running, maybe. He’s an idiot, I mean, he’s a total idiot.” Schultz has neither formally launched his candidacy, nor has established a disproportionate amount of PACs supporting him at this point. It can be inferred that Senator Brown was referencing the fact that Schultz is the first billionaire to enter the race. When the voter continued his question, directly asking the Ohio senator if he would accept PAC money, he replied: “Well, I have not decided yet.” He then intimated that it doesn’t matter where the money comes from as his record speaks for itself. The issue of PAC money is already proving to…
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by Jason Hopkins Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s open consideration of an independent, third-party bid for the White House has numerous Democratic political operatives and candidates sounding the alarm. “I have a concern that if he did run, that essentially, it would provide [President] Donald Trump with his best hope of getting re-elected,” Julian Castro — a former Housing and Urban Development secretary under the Obama administration and a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate himself — said Sunday when asked by CNN about Schultz’s possible run. “I would suggest to Mr. Schultz to truly think about the negative impact that that might make.” The Texas Democrat is far from the only one to allege that a third-party bid from Schultz would ultimately split progressive and moderate voters, paving the way for Trump to secure a second term. “.@HowardSchultz running for POTUS as an independent would put the froth on @realDonaldTrump’s Cinnamon Dolce Latte, splitting the opposition and making Trump’s low ceiling potentially high enough,” David Axelrod, former President Barack Obama’s campaign manager, tweeted on Jan. 21. .@HowardSchultz running for POTUS as an independent would put the froth on @realDonaldTrump ‘s Cinnamon Dolce Latte, splitting the opposition and making Trump’s low ceiling potentially high enough.https://t.co/O6HsJAL8sP — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod)…
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Starbucks Corp, the world’s biggest coffee chain, said on Monday Executive Chairman Howard Schultz is stepping down, effective June 26, where he will assume the title of ‘chairman emeritus.’ Schultz, who joined Starbucks in 1981, is credited with turning the company into a popular household name and growing it from 11 stores to more than 28,000 in 77 countries. “I set out to build a company that my father, a blue-collar worker and World War II veteran, never had a chance to work for,” Schultz wrote in a statement to past and present Starbucks partners (workers). “Together we’ve done that, and so much more, by balancing profitability and social conscience, compassion and rigor, and love and responsibility.” Last year, Schultz stepped down as chief executive officer to become executive chairman, handing the top job to Kevin Johnson. “There are no words to fully express our gratitude to Howard for the extraordinary company he has built,” Johnson said in a statement about Schultz’s departure. “He’s helped Starbucks earn the respect of millions around the world by always being true to a higher calling, and always being bold in creating a better future. He’s taught all of us that it’s possible to be a very different kind…
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