Below the Radar

(Originally posted on itsOURairport.org.) Puget Sound Sage has released its latest report “Below the Radar:How Sea‑Tac Airport’s substandard working conditions hurt our region and how other major airports changed course toward growth and prosperity.”

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Many travelers are unaware of the work it takes to fly in and out of Sea-Tac Airport safely, comfortably and with all their belongings. The people who handle baggage, clean cabins and provide assistance for the elderly and passengers with disabilities are essential to the quality of this experience, yet they endure poor wages, benefits and working conditions.

The consequences and their underlying causes are below the radar of the public and policy makers.

It does not have to be this way.

Four major West Coast airports — Los Angeles International, San Francisco International, Oakland International and San José International — have set minimum workforce standards to address the adverse effects of low-wage jobs and outsourcing. These airports’ policies are setting standards that create economic success for workers, local economies, airports and their airlines. Moreover, a comparison between airline and airline contractor operations at these West Coast airports and Sea-Tac Airport shows that Sea-Tac is below standard.

For decades, the airline industry has cut costs on ground-based operations that are critical to passenger air service — including baggage handling, cabin cleaning and wheelchair services. By outsourcing these services to businesses with lower wages and fewer benefits, the industry’s workers, their communities and travelers have been subjected to many unintended, negative consequences. Currently, 2,100 workers at Sea-Tac Airport endure poverty-level wages, no benefits and unsafe working conditions.

A majority of these workers live in neighboring suburban cities with a dramatically higher poverty rate (16%) than the rest of King County (9%) and worse reported health. As airport workers rely on public services to feed their families, the airport’s largest carrier, Alaska Airlines, boasts record profits for 2012.

Airline contractors compete fiercely by cutting costs that can also compromise  airport security, public health and passenger safety. Before the tragic events of 9-11, low wages for passenger screeners led to such high rates of turnover (approaching 200% a year) that Federal agencies determined nationwide airport security to be compromised.

Thirteen years later, airport workers with other vital security functions continue to make poverty wages. Also, studies at major U.S. airports show that key personnel, such as wheelchair agents and cabin cleaners, lack proper safety equipment, receive inadequate training and cannot take paid time off for illness. Recent allegations filed by over 50 airline contractor employees with Washington’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health indicate similar problems at Sea-Tac Airport.

Sea‑Tac Airport and its dominant carrier, Alaska Airlines, can meet West Coast standards.

Alaska Airlines has made record profits for several years and analysts expect the carrier to continue outperforming its competitors.

A significant percentage of Alaska Airlines’ operations (12.5%) occur at West Coast airports that have established workforce standards. This number comprises one out of eight of all Alaska enplanements (the number of passengers boarding flights).

Requirements for living wages and better benefits have not prevented Alaska Airlines from expanding business.

In 2012 Alaska Airlines invested $16 million to renovate a terminal at LAX, the airport with the highest minimum wage on the West Coast.

Alaska Airlines increased passenger volume at San José (SJC) by 26% following implementation of living wage requirements.

Several of Alaska Airlines’ contractors at Sea-Tac Airport — all multi-national companies with global customers — operate successfully under workforce standards at other airports.

Sea-Tac Airport’s monopoly on regional air travel will prevent loss of airline business to local competitors.

Recommendations: Sea‑Tac Airport and Alaska Airlines should meet West Coast standards.

Agencies responsible for the health and welfare of King County residents should work together to enact policy and programs that align with the standard set by other West Coast airports.

Alaska Airlines can and should lead this transformation. The minimum standards should include:

• Living wages

• Paid time off for sick and personal days

• Worker retention for airline and airport contractors

• Flexibility for collective bargaining

• Increased security and safety training

Read the entire report at Puget Sound Sage. 

Congressman Ryan's love letter to Austerity

We've got our hands on a translation of Congressman Ryan's latest budget proposal called, "A Path to Austerity." Here's a couple of highlights of how austerity, also known as the "sequester" is already affecting Washington State.

Hanford pink slips coming today from the Tri City Herald.

Nine million dollars cut from Head Start Program in Washington State from The Olympian.

Clippy and Microsoft have a heart to heart

By Nathan Jackson You can’t keep a good annoying, incorrigible, out of work icon down; at least not for long.

Over 100 community members came to University Village to tell the Starbucks and Microsoft CEOs that they need to drop their support of the corporate front group “Fix the Debt.” This group of wealthy CEOs wants to lower tax rates on the wealthy, create more corporate loopholes, and slash budgets for vital social services like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

We came to tell them we wouldn’t stand for it. Leading the way was a disgruntled former Microsoft employee—an oversized Clippy the annoying pop up paperclip.

Clippy popped up outside the Microsoft Store and told it like it is: "It looks like the CEO of Microsoft wants try and push for more budget cuts to get a big tax break."

It was part of protest by community members who rallied outside — and inside — some local outlets of companies whose CEOs have been backing the "Fix the Debt" corporate front group.

These trickle-down advocates may call themselves "Fix the Debt," but what really needs fixing is their greed. After all, if these CEOs were really concerned about “fixing the debt,” they could start by paying their fair share. Instead, they've been pushing for a plan that doles out more corporate tax breaks like the one that would save Microsoft $19 BILLION dollars.

That's enough to pop Clippy out of retirement.

It was also enough to motivate dozens of activists to pop up inside the Starbucks and Microsoft stores and speak the truth, chanting “Hey you millionaires! Pay your Fair Share!” and “Fix the Greed! Fix the Greed!”

It was a way to get our message to the corporate honchos, and they heard it loud and clear. One manager quickly dialed up corporate desperate for advice saying, “There are people yelling in the store! They're not leaving. They say they’re mad about the budget cuts!”

You’re damn right we’re mad.

It is not right for 1% CEOs to expect working folks to have to make do with less so the CEOs can get more tax breaks. Everybody knows that we need good jobs, not more cuts. We’ve been there done that and austerity just doesn’t work.

Even Clippy has caught on to that message.

And so did people like Bill Neas, a community supporter who spoke at the rally. Sporting a full shock of white hair, he grabbed the microphone, pushed up his thick glasses and spoke to the crowd.

“I don’t get it. I’ve worked my whole life, did the right thing and paid my taxes and now these local corporations think they can just skip away from their taxes?” he said. “Just who do they think they are?”

That's a good question, and we're still waiting for an answer.

And the CEOs should keep this in mind: Clippy is hard to get rid of and so are we.

Microsoft customers call on CEO to Control-Alt-Delete his all-greed agenda

*** MEDIA ADVISORY FOR FEBRUARY 20, 2013 ***Contact: Sage Wilson, Working Washington, sage@workingwa.org

As brutal budget cuts loom in Congress...

Microsoft customers join campaign calling on local CEOs to send all-greed Congressional agenda to the recycling bin

Rowdy protests at Microsoft Store & Starbucks will push local CEOs to cut support for "Fix the Debt" corporate front group

WEDNESDAY 2/20 in SEATTLE - Concerned customers of Microsoft and Starbucks will gather at University Village for a rowdy protest and march aimed at pushing local CEOs Steve Ballmer of Microsoft and Howard Schultz of Starbucks to stop supporting the all-greed agenda of the deep-pocketed corporate front group known as "Fix the Debt".

If Congress doesn't act, devastating budget cuts called "sequestration" could take effect next month, including deep reductions to unemployment benefits, Medicaid support, senior assistance services, and even homeless shelters. But instead of agreeing to pay their fair share so we can stop the cuts, Steve Ballmer, Howard Schultz, and the other CEOs in “Fix the Debt” are trying to take advantage of the looming crisis to push for even more special loopholes and even more cuts to vital services. These CEOs say they want to "Fix the Debt" — but what really needs fixing is their greed.

Microsoft alone would save as much as $19 billion from just one of the new loopholes Ballmer and the other CEOs are pushing.

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Who: Microsoft and Starbucks customers and community members opposed to the all-greed trickle-down agenda being pushed by local CEOs and their big-bucks allies across the country.

What/Visuals: Rally at University Village, including rowdy march and protests at Microsoft Store and Starbucks. Protests will include a giant Microsoft Office Clippy popping up to point out that "It looks like Microsoft is trying to get a big tax break by slashing vital government services," and a 3-foot-tall Starbucks cup reading "Budget Cuts are Bitter Brew". Seniors and others who would be directly affected by cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will speak out and call on these local CEOs to drop their support of the "Fix the Debt" front group.

When: Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 12:00 noon

Where: University Village Shopping Center. (GPS Address: 2623 NE University Village St, Seattle, WA 98105) Concerned customers will hold a boisterous rally, then march to the Microsoft Store, Starbucks, and Bank of America — three of the companies whose CEOs have endorsed the Fix the Debt corporate front group.

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Microsoft Clippy was rejected by customers because he had an irritating habit of showing up at unfortunate times to offer help you don't need. Now, like Clippy back from the bin, Steve Ballmer of Microsoft and dozens of other CEOs are popping up in the middle of the budget debate in Washington, DC, pretending to offer useful advice. Ballmer has lent his name to the "Fix the Debt" corporate front group, joining dozens of other big-bucks CEOs like Howard Schultz of Starbucks, Brian Moynihan of Bank of America, Terry Lundgren of Macy's, and Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs.

These CEOs are fronting for an agenda that includes lower tax rates for the rich, new corporate loopholes, and massive spending reductions. It adds up to a budget plan that would give new breaks to big corporations and the ultra-rich … and pay for it with deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other vital government services.

Wednesday's event at University Village comes on the heels of a January event where Starbucks customers "roasted" CEO Howard Schultz over his support of "Fix the Debt" outside Starbucks Global Headquarters in SoDo, and a boisterous December rally which culminated with more than a hundred people entering the downtown Seattle Macy's to deliver lumps of coal to their budget-cutting CEO. Expect protests like this to continue in Seattle and across the country until these big-bucks CEOs stop fronting for the "Fix the Debt" trickle-down agenda and respect that customers and community members want what we voted for: jobs, not cuts.

More information:

• DC think-tank Institute for Policy Studies calculated that Microsoft alone would save $19 billion from one new loophole — called a "territorial tax system" — being pushed by "Fix the Debt": http://www.ips-dc.org/articles/the_trojan_horse_in_the_debt_debate
• The New York Times recently looked at the private corporate interests behind "Fix the Debt": http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/us/politics/behind-debt-campaign-ties-to-corporate-interests.html?_r=0
• The Reuters news service calls Fix the Debt "ridiculous", describing the CEO letter joined by Ballmer, Schultz, and others as "CEOs’ self-serving deficit manifesto": http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/10/25/ceos-self-serving-deficit-manifesto/
• The Wall Street Journal published a list of CEOs who have lent their names in support of the "Fix the Debt" agenda: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204076204578078560907325012.html

Working Washington is bringing people together to fight for a fair economy. We are speaking out to demand that the corporations and the politicians do what it takes to invest in our communities and move the economy forward. We need good jobs — not cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other vital services. For more information, visit WorkingWA.org

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Steve Ballmer bringing the spirit of Microsoft Clippy back from the recycling bin?

*** MEDIA ADVISORY FOR FEBRUARY 20, 2013 ***Contact: Sage Wilson, Working Washington, sage@workingwa.org

Steve Ballmer bringing the spirit of Microsoft Clippy back from the recycling bin?

"It looks like Microsoft is trying to get a big tax break by slashing vital government services."

Microsoft Clippy was rejected by customers because he had an irritating habit of showing up at unfortunate times to offer help you don't need. Now, like Clippy back from the bin, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is popping up in the middle of the budget debate in Washington, DC, pretending to offer useful advice. He's joined dozens of other big bucks CEOs (including Howard Schultz of Starbucks) in support of all-greed budget agenda by lending his name to the "Fix the Debt" corporate front group.

Ballmer and his fellow CEOs keep on trying to autoformat the budget debate into the same old trickle-down template: more tax cuts for the top one percent, and more budget cuts for the rest of us. But customers and community members know that we need jobs, not cuts, so they're calling on CEOs like Ballmer to stop fronting for the "Fix the Debt" all-greed agenda.

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Who:   Microsoft and Starbucks customers and community members opposed to the all-greed trickle-down agenda being pushed by big-bucks CEOs.

What: Rally at University Village, then march to Microsoft Store and Starbucks to send their CEOs a message: our economy needs jobs, not cuts. Seniors and others who would be directly affected by cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will speak out and call on these local CEOs to drop their support of Fix the Debt.

When: Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 12:00 noon.

Where: University Village Shopping Center.  (GPS Address: 2623 NE University Village St, Seattle, WA 98105) Rally will be followed by a march to the Microsoft Store, Starbucks, and Bank of America — three of the companies whose CEOs have endorsed the Fix the Debt corporate front group.

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The "Fix the Debt" CEO agenda — lower tax rates for the rich, new corporate loopholes, and massive spending reductions — amounts to a budget plan that would give new breaks to big corporations and the ultra-rich … and pay for it with deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other vital government services.

The CEOs who have endorsed these priorities — including Steve Ballmer, Howard Schultz, Brian Moynihan of Bank of America, Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs and dozens of others — say this is about "fixing the debt". But what really needs fixing is their greed: just one of the new loopholes they are pushing would save Microsoft alone an estimated $19 billion in taxes.

Microsoft & Starbucks are considered local icons, but the agenda their CEOs are pushing don't reflect our community's values. We voted for jobs, not cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. We voted to close corporate loopholes, not create new ones. And we voted to make sure the rich pay their fair share, not lower their tax rates.

That's why many customers and community members are outraged that Ballmer and Schultz have come together with dozens of other ultra-wealthy CEOs to try and autoformat the budget debate and peddle the same old trickle-down brew in Congress. And we won't stop speaking out until Ballmer & Schultz renounce their support of the "Fix the Debt" trickle-down agenda.

Working Washington is bringing people together to fight for a fair economy. We are speaking out to demand that our political leaders do what it takes to invest in good jobs and move the economy forward. We need good jobs — not cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other vital services. For more information, visit WorkingWA.org

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Fronting for a corporate lobbying group

By Nathan Jackson We’ve driven our economy back from the worst of it, but without good jobs and investments in social services like quality education, healthcare and safety net programs we are risking the gains we’ve made. We could be heading back into the ditch.

Cue the CEOs telling us that the ditch isn’t so bad.

CEOs have come together to form a corporate front group called Fix the Debt. This group uses flowery phrases and spin to try to appear reasonable and pragmatic, but what they are pushing for is the same old economic policies of tax breaks for the rich and austerity, aka budget cuts for the rest of us.

Two local corporate leaders—Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer have been acting as front men for the corporate front group.

Schultz made his workers in DC Starbucks push a pro austerity slogan on customers’ cups. Schultz agrees with the plans of the corporate front group to slash budgets for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while lowering tax rates on the rich and big corporations.

Never mind that tax rates are the lowest they have been in decades or the fact that we have not taken the steps we need to steer this economy back onto a prosperous path for the rest of us. Schultz apparently thinks that drip down economics actually work.

He’s wrong.

Not to be outdone, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has also signed onto the Fix the Debt’s plan.

The corporate front group has been actively lobbying to put in place tax “reforms” (read gifts) that would save the software giant $19 BILLION dollars on their federal tax bill. Meanwhile Ballmer agrees that we should cut public spending.

Microsoft has a pretty consistent stance on paying their fair share—they don’t like it.

The software company actively lobbied to change Washington State law in regard to a B&O tax on software royalties. Previously, Washington State would tax the worldwide royalties of software if the company was based here in the state. Through active lobbying, Microsoft got our state legislature to change the law saving the company from potential BILLIONS in back taxes.

CEOs don’t have the economic solutions that will help the rest of us.

They shouldn’t be trying to dictate to our elected leaders laws and regulations that only enrich them and leave the rest of our society nipping at each other’s heels for scraps.

On March 1st, deep Federal budget cuts are slated to take effect. If Congress doesn't take action, the impact will be devastating: more than 100,000 formerly homeless people would lose access to housing and shelters; unemployment benefits would be slashed; Medicaid cuts would result in thousands of layoffs in Washington State alone; and more.

It’s time to get serious.

We can’t sit back and allow these corporate front groups to gut the social programs that we all pay into and need to help us get back on our own feet.  We’ve worked hard to get back to where we are and we won’t be pulled back.

It’s pretty simple what we want.

The rich and big corporations need to drop their affiliation with the corporate front group Fix the Debt, stop pushing for the failed austerity policies of the past and pay their fair share so that we can get or keep good jobs and invest in the policies that drive us onto a shared, prosperous economic path.

Budget Cuts are Bitter Brew

By Nathan Jackson Percolating with hundreds of coffee-economic-justice-puns written by the community, we went to Starbucks HQ in the SoDo district to deliver a message to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. TV news cameras rolling, we set up right outside the cathedral looking Starbucks HQ and shared some of the puns that the community had sent in online.

“This CEO just got an 80% raise and now he wants more tax breaks? He’s gotta a latte nerve!”

“Don’t grind the 99%.”

“This new plan to lower tax rates for the rich is nothing but a hill of beans!”

“This tax plan is all foam, no coffee.”

“1% is fine for milk, but the 1% shouldn’t be trying to run the country.”

Since we had already made it clear from the election that we wanted jobs, not cuts we thought a visual aide might help this CEO finally get the message. We made a giant coffee cup emblazoned with a slogan that he would understand, being a coffee man, “Budget Cuts are Bitter Brew.”

We don’t want lower tax rates for the rich and budget cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. We want the rich to pay their fair share and we want our elected leaders to focus on jobs, not cuts.

Bill Neas grabbed the microphone, unsuccessfully tried to ignore the TV cameras, walked in front of our “Jobs Not Cuts” banner and waved towards the Starbucks sign over the entrance to the corporate headquarters.

“We have to understand these rich guys have got the coffee jitters,” he said. “They have to get their tax cuts, slash Medicare and keep us ‘Takers’ in our place. It’s enough to make you feel sorry for them.”

Schultz had forced his DC employees to write messages on customers’ cups calling for Congress to “Come Together” and support the Fix the Debt’s agenda. Their agenda is more of the same from the 1%---lower tax rates for the rich and slashing social services. They want to balance the budget on the backs of the working poor, families and folks who are down on their luck and need a hand up.

It’s the same old plan we’ve tried before. It doesn’t work. It’s time for a new brew, a new plan—and we wrote it on cups.

We marched into Starbucks, pushing past the TV cameras, chanting and smiling and handed our messages to the baristas. We thanked them and some of us even bought some coffee as we left.

We don’t have a problem with Starbucks’ workers; we have a problem with yet another CEO who thinks that he has the right to push his own agenda on our elected officials using his employees as his proxies.

That’s wrong and we will continue to call out CEOs who throw their weight around and press down on working folks.

We ended the day with a “pun-off” in which folks cleverly came up with slogans to leave with the CEO. One woman came up with this gem off the top of her head, “These CEOs deserve to be in hot water for what they're trying to do to our safety net.”

Couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

Good Food. Good Jobs.

By Nathan Jackson

Waving messages on paper plates, airport food-service workers led a march through Sea-Tac Airport calling on the Port of Seattle to emphasize good food *and* good jobs at our airport. Port executives are currently considering changes in how food services operate at our airport that threaten to undermine the good jobs these workers have won over the years by joining together as members of Unite Here Local 8.

Working Washington and other community supporters were there to stand with these workers as they marched and sang through our airport for good food and good jobs. We loudly sang a modified version of “We shall not be moved” and after crisscrossing the airport we arrived at the arrivals hall where workers shared their stories.

Lourdes Barredo, who has worked for the airport for 21 years, addressed the crowd.

“We aren’t just fighting for our jobs,” she said. “We are fighting for our families. I’ve been here 21 years and I won’t go back to how it used to be. We’ve fought too hard so that we can take care of our families.”

The Port of Seattle is supposed to look out for the public interest, but they are pursuing a policy that will result in less stability, pay and benefits for airport food workers.  The food concession workers have fought for and won decent wages, benefits and respect from their employer. They had to scrape and struggle for these benefits and they are not going to sit idly by while the public entity, the Port of Seattle, allows for profit companies to take them away.

Too many jobs at our airport are poverty wage jobs. We've been standing up with workers who just want to be treated with respect and fairness. It doesn't matter if it is taking on the contractors that Alaska Airlines hires or speaking out for safety issues in front of the Port of Seattle. We will always be on the side of the workers who make our airport work.

The Port of Seattle is a public entity and should be working to protect good jobs, not bust them up.

Let’s remind them of that.

Starbucks customers to "roast" CEO for brewing bitter budget cuts while collecting 80% raise

*** MEDIA ADVISORY for January 30, 2013 ***Contact: Sage Wilson, Working Washington: sage@workingwa.org

Event at corporate headquarters to expose CEO Howard Schultz's active support of tax cuts for the rich, budget cuts for the rest of us

WEDNESDAY 1/30 in SEATTLE – As budget negotiations continue in Congress, concerned Starbucks customers and community members will gather at the coffee chain's global headquarters to "roast" Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz over his support for the all-greed agenda of the deep-pocketed corporate front group known as "Fix the Debt".

The event comes just days after the company announced an 80% raise for Schultz, boosting his pay to $28.9 million. That's a latte money — and another reason why protestors will Venti our frustrations and espress our concerns about the fact that instead of simply paying his fair share, he continues to come together with other CEOs to demand Congress give still more to those who already have so much... and pay for it by cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

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Who: Starbucks customers and community members concerned about the impact of budget cuts being pushed by the CEO

What/Visuals: Gather at Starbucks corporate headquarters to "roast" CEO Howard Schultz with coffee-themed messages about the need for jobs not cuts. Three-foot-tall coffee cup reading"Budget cuts are bitter brew" will expose Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's support for cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. (Some sample messages listed below — this will be a latte fun.)

When: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 10:00 am

Where: Starbucks Coffee Global Headquarters: First & Lander in SoDo. (GPS address is 2401 Utah Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98134)

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Howard Schultz is among the most prominent of the dozens of CEOs who have come together under the banner of "Fix the Debt" to press Congress to extract deep cuts to vital government services. Schultz left an especially bitter taste in many mouths by requiring baristas in some stores to write his political slogans on coffee cups — an executive order that effectively turns employees and customers into political billboards for the CEO agenda.

His "Come Together" slogan may sound thin and watered-down — but it's actually robust cover for a set of priorities that could only be dreamed up by CEOs coming together. The all-greed agenda behind the sloganeering amounts to a plan to lower tax rates on big corporations and the ultra-rich... and pay for it with deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and other vital government services.

Schultz and his CEO buddies say they want to "fix the debt" — but what really needs fixing is their greed.

Wednesday’s rally at Starbucks Global Headquarters is one of more than 50 events in cities nationwide that are kicking off a month of robust activity as the March 1st deadline for Congress to prevent the automatic “sequestration” cuts approaches. In a second phase of our day of action for jobs not cuts here in Seattle, local residents will rally at the downtown Wells Fargo at 12 noon to call attention to corporate tax dodging.

The 99% have a latte fun "roasting" Howard Schultz:

In less than week, Working Washington supporters have sent in nearly 300 messages to deliver to Schultz about his priorities, his agenda, and his company. Many of these messages will be written on cups to be delivered to the company. Highlights include:

• "What the frackuccino?!"
• "It takes a latte nerve"
• "CEO's brewing trouble"
• "Stop dripping out budget cuts"
• "Wake up & smell the agenda"
• "Robust resistance to CEO tax breaks"
• "Budget cuts are bitter brew"

More information:

• Howard Schultz letter endorsing "Fix the Debt" front group: http://www.starbucks.com/blog/lets-come-together-america
• Explanation of "Fix the Debt" agenda behind the slogan: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/opinion/krugman-brewing-up-confusion.html?ref=todayspaper

Working Washington is bringing people together to fight for a fair economy. We are speaking out to demand that our political leaders do what it takes to invest in our communities and move the economy forward. We need good jobs — not cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other vital services. For more information, visit WorkingWA.org

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Starbucks Customers to Speak Out Against CEO's Bitter Budget Cut Brew

Rally at corporate headquarters will expose CEO Howard Schultz's support for corporate front group that threatens Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security

WEDNESDAY 1/30 in SEATTLE – As budget negotiations continue in Congress, concerned Starbucks customers and community members will rally at the coffee chain's global headquarters to expose Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's support for the all-greed agenda of the deep-pocketed corporate front group known as "Fix the Debt".

Schultz is among the most prominent of the dozens of CEOs who have come together under the guise of "Fix the Debt" to push Congress to make deep cuts to vital government services. Schultz left an especially bitter taste in many mouths by requiring baristas in some stores to write his political slogans on coffee cups — an executive order that effectively turns employees and customers into political billboards for the CEO agenda.

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Who: Starbucks customers and community members concerned about the impact of budget cuts being pushed by the CEO, including senior citizens, people with disabilities, and others

What/Visuals: Starbucks customers rally at corporate headquarters and write their own messages about the rich paying their fair share on coffee cups and deliver them to Starbucks corporate executives. Giant 3-foot-tall coffee cup with messages from the community will expose Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's support for cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

When: Wednesday, January 30, 2012 at 10:00 am

Where: Starbucks Coffee Global Headquarters: First & Lander in SoDo. (GPS address is 2401 Utah Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98134)

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Howard Schultz's "Come Together" slogan may sound innocuous — but it's cover for a set of priorities that could only be dreamed up by CEOs coming together. The all-greed agenda behind the sloganeering amounts to a plan to lower tax rates on big corporations and the ultra-rich... and pay for it with deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and other vial government services.

Schultz and his CEO buddies say they want to "fix the debt" — but what really needs fixing is their greed.

Wednesday’s rally at Starbucks Global Headquarters is one of more than 50 events cities nationwide that are kicking off a month of intensive activity as the March 1st deadline for Congress to prevent the automatic “sequestration” cuts approaches.

Working Washington is bringing people together to fight for a fair economy. We are speaking out to demand that our political leaders do what it takes to invest in our communities and move the economy forward. We need good jobs — not cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other vital services. For more information, visit WorkingWA.org

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