Starbucks is in hot coffee today for two reasons: an allegation that a manager at a Long Island Starbucks berated a gay worker for his sexual orientation, and news that the chain's milk distributor plans to drop Jamaica, Queens-based Elmhurst Dairy and go with a non-union dairy conglomerate in Texas. The bias allegation stems from an incident witnessed by a customer at a Starbucks in Centereach, Long Island overheard a female manager allegedly forcing an employee, Jeffrey Warren, to resign because he is gay. In a blog post that has since gone viral and attracted widespread media attention, the witness writes:
The woman (who I will refer to going forward as the “Manager” although she may have been someone from Human Resources) spoke to him in a sharp condescending manner. She told him that they were not interested in his politics or beliefs and his thoughts were down right offensive to his co-workers. They did not want to hear about his personal life. When Jeffrey pointed out that they ALL talked about their personal lives (during the course of the conversation I learned that the manager had a daughter that went to tennis camp and another one of the women had a birthday coming up so the irony and the hypocrisy of that statement was mind blowing.)
That his beliefs were not welcome at Starbucks. She went on, an on and on talking about leadership building workshops where she learned to “Keep it to herself” (again I will remind you of tennis camp). She was even so condescending to tell him, “It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but ten years from now you will thank me for this…” For what? For for letting him go for speaking about his personal life? For learning to put up with bigotry in the work place?
The gay employee, Jeffrey Warren tells KIRO 7, "They were sick of hearing about my sexuality. I felt I was coerced into abandoning my position. I've been continuously passed up for promotions." In a statement, Starbucks wrote, "We are disheartened by the allegations reported in an East Coast Starbucks store and are taking immediate measures to investigate and take any steps necessary to make this right. The actions reported do not correspond with our values, who we are as a company or the beliefs we try to instill in our partners. Starbucks has supported the LGBT community for many years, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind."
Meanwhile, over in Jamaica, union workers at Elmhurst Dairy are deeply concerned that they'll be out of work when their dairy and packaging plant loses its contract with Bartlett Dairy, Starbucks' distributor. Bartlett has told Elmhurst it will not continue its contract after it expires in 2013, but Elmhurst fears it could happen even sooner. "Elmhurst Dairy's entire Queens operation and hundreds of New York City jobs are at risk," company spokesman George McGrath told the Daily News. "A substantial portion of Elmhurst's net income is attributable to the milk it processes for Starbucks."
Elmhurst employees are holding a rally at City Hall today calling on Starbucks to stop Bartlett from dropping them. A Starbucks spokeswoman said the company has "the right to pick our suppliers. We chose Dean Foods' plant in upstate New York. It's our understanding that it would only impact 10 jobs at Elmhurst." But Elmhurst Dairy workers fear losing Starbucks' business will put the whole plant out of business.
