Los miembros de Teamsters 117 llevaron a cabo hoy una acción de facturación manual en la sede corporativa de Starbucks en Seattle, exigiendo que la empresa responsabilizara a su proveedor de alimentos Taylor Farms de las violaciones de derechos humanos en su planta de Tracy, California. 

Vea las fotos de la acción de hoy aquí.

Passing out leaflets that read “Starbucks: Silence Equals Abuse”, members of the Teamsters along with Pride at Work and the Martin Luther King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO called out Starbucks for its hypocrisy and its support of a food supplier with a terrible safety and health record.

A delegation of union supporters attempted to meet with Starbucks management to discuss the violations at Taylor Farms, but Starbucks refused to meet with the group.

"Starbucks ha mantenido por mucho tiempo que es una corporación comprometida con la igualdad", dijo John Scearcy, Secretario-Tesorero del Local 117. "Si ese es el caso, ¿por qué compran alimentos de una empresa que permite que los trabajadores LGBT sean agredidos físicamente y acosados en el trabajo? El dinero es lo más poderoso en los negocios y si Starbucks tiene algo de integridad, invertiría en proveedores de alimentos que tengan estándares básicos de decencia humana".

The Teamsters have been attempting to organize food processing workers at Taylor Farms to improve unsafe working conditions and put an end to the company’s abuse of its workers’ rights. The union is also demanding an end to repeated harassment and abuse of LGBT workers at Taylor Farms.

"I’m glad the Teamsters have brought attention to the issue in labor community here,” said Nicole Grant, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Martin Luther King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO. “Starbucks’ complacency in the face of hate crimes against LGBT workers from one of their suppliers is cowardly and deplorable. The Seattle labor movement proudly backs our brothers and sisters in California fighting for safe working conditions and a union. We will be educating all our affiliates about this, beginning at tonight’s monthly Delegates meeting." 

“There’s no excuse for silence,” Scearcy added. “Starbucks needs to either tell Taylor Farms to allow their workers to form a union in order to resolve this litany of issues, or drop them as a supplier. We will continue to protest until this happens.”