tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/starbucks-2356/articlesStarbucks – The Conversation2024-03-25T12:40:09Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2256112024-03-25T12:40:09Z2024-03-25T12:40:09ZAmazon, SpaceX and other companies are arguing the government agency that has protected labor rights since 1935 is actually unconstitutional<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582234/original/file-20240315-26-ku55bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=76%2C35%2C2919%2C2092&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed in 1933 the law that led to the National Labor Relations Board's emergence.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/FDRSignsWagnerPeyserAct1933/61439bda58874be9b582a59e2875c561/photo?Query=fdr%20wagner%20act&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3175/Amazon_complaint.pdf?1711137053">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3174/Space_X_complaint.pdf?1711136921">SpaceX</a>, <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3177/Starbucks_Brief.pdf?1711327299">Starbucks</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/10/starbucks-trader-joes-spacex-challenge-labor-board">Trader Joe’s have all responded</a> to allegations that they have violated labor laws with the same bold argument. The <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/">National Labor Relations Board</a>, they assert in several ongoing legal proceedings, is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/business/economy/amazon-labor-nlrb.html">unconstitutional</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3174/Space_X_complaint.pdf?1711136921">SpaceX, for example, says</a> that the NLRB is engaging in “an unlawful attempt … to subject Space X to an administrative proceeding whose structure violates Article II, the Fifth Amendment, and the Seventh Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.”</p>
<p>If these companies prevail, the entire process for holding union elections and for prosecuting employers who break labor laws – in place since the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/national-labor-relations-act">days of the New Deal</a> – could collapse. That would <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/10/starbucks-trader-joes-spacex-challenge-labor-board">leave U.S. workers more vulnerable to exploitation</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/301/1/">The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the board</a> nearly a century ago, soon after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the law that created the NLRB and made clear that workers have the right to organize and bargain collectively. Justices have also rejected similar arguments in <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/295/602/#tab-opinion-1934749">cases involving other agencies</a>.</p>
<p>As a law professor who <a href="https://www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/kate-andrias">researches labor law and constitutional law</a> and a former labor organizer, I am deeply concerned, but not surprised, by these attacks on the federal agency that has protected U.S. workers’ right to organize unions and bargain collectively with their employers <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/national_labor_relations_act_nlra">since the 1930s</a>.</p>
<p>These corporations seem to believe they will find a sympathetic audience before the conservative justices that occupy six of the Supreme Court’s nine seats. In a series of prior cases, the conservative justices have already <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/20-1530">weakened administrative agencies</a> and <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2017/16-285">cut back on workers’ rights</a>.</p>
<h2>Growing support for unions</h2>
<p>The corporate attack on the NLRB also seems to be a response to <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/510281/unions-strengthening.aspx">growing support for unions among Americans</a>.</p>
<p>Workers at the companies that are challenging the NLRB’s constitutionality have all begun to organize unions in recent years, with numerous, high-profile, union-organizing wins. Workers across numerous sectors, including auto, education, health care and Hollywood, have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/31/briefing/uaw-strike.html">recently held successful strikes</a>.</p>
<p>What’s more, the <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/jennifer-abruzzo-national-labor-relations-board/">NLRB has been more assertive in prosecuting employers</a> for violating workers’ rights, and it has been revising rules in ways that make it easier for workers to organize.</p>
<p>For example, it has made it possible for <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/national-labor-relations-board-issues-final-rule-to-restore-fair-and">the unionization process to move faster</a> and has sought to <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/nlrb-general-counsel-launches-new-10j-injunction-initiative-when-employers">quickly reinstate workers</a> who are illegally fired for organizing unions, rather than waiting years for litigation to play out.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583871/original/file-20240324-26-xwd6re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People in t-shirts that say 'Starbucks Workers United' t-shirts and face masks jump with joy." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583871/original/file-20240324-26-xwd6re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583871/original/file-20240324-26-xwd6re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583871/original/file-20240324-26-xwd6re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583871/original/file-20240324-26-xwd6re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583871/original/file-20240324-26-xwd6re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583871/original/file-20240324-26-xwd6re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583871/original/file-20240324-26-xwd6re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2021, these Buffalo, N.Y., Starbucks employees were the first to win a union election at one of the chain’s stores.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/StarbucksUnion/f154ff4352bb4ba3b2b5838817b164dd/photo?Query=starbucks%20union&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=188&currentItemNo=64">AP Photo/Joshua Bessex</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Supreme Court and big business</h2>
<p>This is not the first time that big business has tried to use constitutional law arguments in an effort to <a href="https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/nulr/vol118/iss4/3/">stop union organizing and limit workers’ rights</a>.</p>
<p>From the 1890s to the 1930s, during what is known as the “<a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/198us45">Lochner era</a>,” corporations argued that laws protecting workers’ rights, including the right to organize unions or be paid a minimum wage, violated their “freedom to contract” and exceeded Congress’ power under the Constitution.</p>
<p>Back then, the Supreme Court routinely sided with business.</p>
<p>It struck down hundreds of laws, including <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/261us525">minimum wage laws</a>, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/198us45">overtime laws</a> and <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/keating-owen-child-labor-act">laws prohibiting child labor</a>. It prohibited strikes, including in the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/labor-day-pullman-railway-strike-origins">railroad</a> and <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/259/344/">mining</a> industries. It allowed <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/221us418">labor leaders to be jailed</a>.</p>
<p>These rulings helped corporations grow wealthier and more powerful.</p>
<p>Only after <a href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/320-the-turbulent-years">mass uprisings by over 1 million workers</a>, economic distress wrought by the Great Depression and overwhelming popular support for the New Deal did the Supreme Court finally change course, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/300us379">recognizing that it had made a mistake</a>.</p>
<p>During the New Deal, the justices ruled that Congress has the power under the Constitution to pass minimum labor standards and <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/301us1">to create agencies, such as the National Labor Relations Board</a>, to protect workers and consumers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582236/original/file-20240315-26-3abjp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The nine members of the Supreme Court, as of 2024, seated and standing in a group." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582236/original/file-20240315-26-3abjp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582236/original/file-20240315-26-3abjp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582236/original/file-20240315-26-3abjp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582236/original/file-20240315-26-3abjp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582236/original/file-20240315-26-3abjp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582236/original/file-20240315-26-3abjp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582236/original/file-20240315-26-3abjp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Six of the the Supreme Court’s nine members are conservatives, leading to many pro-business rulings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/united-states-supreme-court-associate-justice-sonia-news-photo/1431393388?adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Letting agencies make decisions</h2>
<p>Now, nearly 100 years later, the NLRB’s foes contend that the labor board violates the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/separation_of_powers">separation of powers</a> – the constitutional principle that the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government have distinct powers – because it mixes executive and judicial functions.</p>
<p>They also argue that the board is unconstitutional because presidents cannot fire the <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/who-we-are">NLRB’s members or administrative law judges</a> whenever they want.</p>
<p>And opponents of the NLRB claim that the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/administrative_law_judge_(alj)">use of administrative law judges</a> – jurists who preside over and adjudicate cases regarding alleged violations of the law – violates the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/right_to_jury_trial">constitutional right to a jury trial</a>. </p>
<p>But the Supreme Court has long permitted all of these features, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/301us1">not only for the NLRB</a> but for <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/295us602">other government agencies</a> as well.</p>
<p>And for good reason.</p>
<p>No provision of the Constitution prohibits Congress from designing government agencies in this way. And Congress believed that these design choices would help the agency function well.</p>
<p>For example, by prohibiting presidents from replacing all of the NLRB’s administrative law judges for any reason or no reason at all, Congress sought to ensure independence of those judges.</p>
<p>Having each violation of law litigated before a federal jury, rather than administrative law judges deciding cases, could take a lot longer to resolve cases.</p>
<h2>Assessing what’s at stake</h2>
<p>If these corporations prevail with their constitutional challenges, the NLRB will no longer be able to function.</p>
<p>Currently, it can be <a href="https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/rebuilding-worker-voice-in-todays-economy">very difficult for workers to organize unions</a>, partly because of insufficient penalties and protections in labor law. But if the corporations win, there will no longer be an agency in place to safeguard workers’ rights to organize unions and to negotiate fair contracts with their employers.</p>
<p>Indeed, this threat goes beyond labor rights.</p>
<p>If the NLRB is found to violate the Constitution, other government agencies could be at risk as well, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Election Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. In my view, that would endanger investors, voters and consumers – all Americans.</p>
<p>There is reason to believe the Supreme Court could side with big business if a lawsuit challenging the board’s constitutionality reaches it.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court in its current configuration is <a href="https://minnesotalawreview.org/article/a-century-of-business-in-the-supreme-court-1920-2020/">more pro-business than it has been in a century</a>. The justices who make up its conservative majority have shown that they are willing to overrule long-standing labor precedents through decisions that have <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2017/16-1466">reduced union funding</a> and <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2020/20-107">restricted workers’ access to unions</a>.</p>
<p>The conservative justices have also indicated that they may limit the powers of <a href="https://www.govexec.com/management/2023/11/supreme-court-appears-ready-deal-another-blow-federal-agencies-administrative-powers/392348/">administrative agencies beyond the NLRB</a>. Most notably, the conservative majority on the court recently crafted a rule known as the “<a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/today/what-critics-get-wrong-and-right-about-the-supreme-courts-new-major-questions-doctrine/">major questions</a>” doctrine, which says Congress must set particularly clear rules when it authorizes agencies to regulate on matters of political or economic significance.</p>
<p>Using this doctrine, the court has overturned a Biden administration regulation designed to <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/20-1530">protect the environment</a> and has rejected its initial <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2022/22-506">student loan forgiveness program</a>.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court is hearing several other cases this year that threaten administrative agencies, including one that would allow courts to give <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/01/supreme-court-likely-to-discard-chevron/">less deference to reasonable agency rules</a> and one that <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/securities-and-exchange-commission-v-jarkesy/">challenges the use of administrative law judges</a> by the Securities and Exchange Commission.</p>
<h2>Seeing room for optimism</h2>
<p>There is no way to know for certain how the Supreme Court will rule on a case concerning the constitutionality of the NLRB or other federal agencies. There may not be enough votes to overturn years of well-established precedent, even among the conservative justices.</p>
<p>And on labor rights more generally, there is <a href="https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/nulr/vol118/iss4/3/">reason for optimism</a>.</p>
<p>Workers are organizing in greater numbers than they have in decades. History teaches that when there is sufficient popular support for unions and workers’ rights, and sufficient mobilization among workers, the <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374532376/thewillofthepeople">Supreme Court sometimes backs off</a> and corporations give up their fight against workers’ rights. </p>
<p>Indeed, even Starbucks recently agreed <a href="https://fortune.com/2024/02/28/starbucks-workers-union-collective-bargaining-litigation-labor-relations-landmark-moment">to begin negotiating with its workers</a> after years of <a href="https://www.nrn.com/news/labor-board-claims-starbucks-refusing-negotiate-144-unionized-cafes">illegally – according to the NLRB – refusing to bargain</a> with them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225611/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Earlier in her career, Kate Andrias served as a law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as Associate Counsel to President Barack Obama, and as an organizer with the Service Employees International Union. She frequently provides advice on policy initiatives to legislators and workers’ rights organizations and works on related litigation. </span></em></p>Nearly a century after the National Labor Relations Board’s creation, big corporations are arguing that it violates the US Constitution.Kate Andrias, Professor of Law, Columbia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2171252023-11-09T10:00:44Z2023-11-09T10:00:44ZIsrael: why the brand boycotts probably won’t make much difference<p>McDonald’s and Starbucks are among numerous western companies facing consumer boycotts over the Gaza conflict. <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/man-arrested-after-videos-online-show-pro-palestine-protesters-releasing-live-rodents-into-a-mcdonalds-12998121">McDonald’s</a> found itself caught in the crossfire after an Israeli franchisee said it was providing thousands of free meals to the Israel Defense Forces.</p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12697291/pro-Palestine-vandals-smash-Starbucks-window-Yorkshire.html">Starbucks</a> faced boycott calls after disagreeing with a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) by the chain’s union expressing solidarity with Palestine.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.alestiklal.net/en/view/20489/boycott-campaigns-from-starbucks-kuwait-to-mcdonalds-egypt">In both cases</a>, customers have been voting with their feet in countries including Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, <a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/moroccans-boycott-pro-israeli-businesses-amid-gaza-war">Morocco</a>, <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/10/official-boycott-sit-ins-target-starbucks-turkey-amid-protests-against-israel">Turkey</a>, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/video/20231031-jordanians-boycott-american-brands-over-support-for-israel">Jordan</a> and <a href="https://www.pagalparrot.com/starbucks-mcdonalds-getting-boycotted-by-malaysians-heres-why/">Malaysia</a> – despite franchisees expressing loyalty to the local community. There were <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12698161/How-pro-Palestine-boycott-movement-fuelling-fast-food-high-street-cancellation-sweeping-social-media-yobs-launch-attacks-McDonalds-Starbucks-franchises-support-Israel.html">also attacks</a> on the two chains in the UK. </p>
<p>Many other American companies are being targeted, in some cases purely for their government’s support for Israel. These <a href="https://www.arabnews.com/node/2398351/middle-east">include</a> KFC, Pizza Hut and <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/burger-king-faces-boycott-giving-free-food-israeli-soldiers-1837005">Burger King</a>, as well as brands such as <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/video/20231031-jordanians-boycott-american-brands-over-support-for-israel">Coca-Cola</a>, <a href="https://themedialine.org/by-region/jordan-anti-israel-boycott-campaigns-target-american-british-french-products-companies/">Pepsi</a>, <a href="https://bdsmovement.net/news/what-boycott-now-help-stop-israel%E2%80%99s-unfolding-genocide-palestinians-gaza">Wix</a> and <a href="https://www.news24.com/citypress/news/sa-bds-coalitions-calls-for-boycott-of-mcdonalds-puma-and-cape-union-mart-for-business-links-with-israel-20231028">Puma</a>. Google and Amazon face <a href="https://bdsmovement.net/news/what-boycott-now-help-stop-israel%E2%80%99s-unfolding-genocide-palestinians-gaza">boycott calls</a> for offering services to the Israeli government and military to sustain what <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0377919X.2022.2091382">many contend</a> is apartheid against the Palestinians. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, UK retailer <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/tan-france-defends-insensitive-marks-31340447">Marks & Spencer</a> has faced similar calls after running a Christmas commercial with a fire that was burning coloured paper-hats that looked a bit like the Palestinian flag – the commercial has since been withdrawn. This took an uglier turn after critics of Israel <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/m-s-ad-conspiracy-theory-is-ugly-new-low-q55qbq0jh">pointed out</a> that the company has partially Jewish roots. </p>
<p>Other brands with Jewish roots have been targeted too, including <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3240503/anti-israel-boycotts-indonesia-hit-mcdonalds-pringles-malaysians-quit-singapores-grab-over-gaza-war">Danone</a>, <a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/starbucks-israel-gaza-lynne-fox-palestine">Starbucks</a>, <a href="https://www.siasat.com/firms-with-israel-links-suffer-as-arab-world-gives-boycott-call-2766046/">Dunkin Donuts and Netflix</a>. Lists of products founded by Jewish business people have also been shared on <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@sym_syed/video/7289827743192059138">TikTok</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/BoyDivSan/status/1004517168724226048?lang=gu">Facebook</a>.</p>
<p>Boycotts relating to the Middle East have a long history. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/08/davidpallister">Twenty years ago</a>, American brands were being removed from Arab shelves over the Iraqi invasion. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19550067">Coca-Cola</a> was boycotted by the Arab League from 1968-91 because it traded in Israel. Sometimes the activism has also come in the other direction, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/20/israel-pm-aggressive-action-ben-jerrys-ban-ice-cream-naftali-bennett-occupied-territories-unilever">Ben and Jerry’s</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/04/orange-says-it-plans-to-terminate-contract-with-brand-partner-in-israel">Orange</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/29/sodastream-move-factory-west-bank-israel-slash-forecast">SodaStream</a> all pulling out of illegal Israeli settlements.</p>
<p>More broadly, there have been boycotts over everything from the <a href="https://boycottrussia.info/">Ukraine war</a> to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/14/bud-light-loses-top-us-beer-spot-after-promotion-with-transgender-influencer">“woke” branding</a>. The logic is straightforward enough: governments will listen if you hurt their companies’ bottom line. So, in what circumstances is this effective?</p>
<h2>Case study 1: Danish cartoons</h2>
<p>In 2005 Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_reactions_to_the_Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy#:%7E:text=Danish%20newspaper%20Jyllands%2DPosten's,of%20Muslims%20in%20the%20West.">caused huge offence</a> to many Muslims over cartoons satirising Prophet Muhammad. Much of the outrage was directed at the Danish government for refusing to take action, while Danish-Swedish food group Arla became a lightning rod for calls to boycott Danish products. After 40 years of building <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4676614.stm">its business</a> in the Middle East, it suffered financial and <a href="https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:142175/FULLTEXT01.pdf">reputational loss</a>. </p>
<p>Arla found it <a href="https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:142175/FULLTEXT01.pdf">extremely difficult</a> to stay out of the debate and faced further criticism from politicians for not explicitly supporting Denmark’s freedom of speech. Even then, it took two years for the company <a href="https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/21190/1/MIP%20Paper%20-%20Case%20Study%20-%20The%20Boycott%20of%20Arla%20Foods%2008%20-%20Revision.pdf">to re-establish</a> itself in the Middle East. </p>
<p>Denmark’s economy <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5199960">wasn’t hurt</a> by the broader boycott, though the newspaper <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jan/31/religion.saudiarabia">did issue an apology</a> to Muslims four months after the row began. </p>
<h2>Case study 2: the Ukraine war</h2>
<p>Both <a href="https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalcampaigns/boycotts/should-we-boycott-russia">consumers and western companies</a> boycotted Russia and Belarus after the Ukraine invasion in 2022. Among the companies pulling out or temporarily halting operations were <a href="https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcorporate.mcdonalds.com%2Fcorpmcd%2Four-stories%2Farticle%2Fmcd-exit-russia.html&data=05%7C01%7CIjaza%40edgehill.ac.uk%7C9abd8ab2bf9841189b3b08dbdc55a2e0%7C093586914d8e491caa760a5cbd5ba734%7C0%7C0%7C638346032864317708%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=hFUZxiIScKVBRUSWjy%2BQk4%2Fj6uNZZK7GcEcDzt5qOK8%3D&reserved=0">McDonald’s</a>, <a href="https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fdereksaul%2F2022%2F05%2F23%2Fstarbucks-will-exit-russia-close-130-cafes%2F%3Fsh%3D8fccc1a295be&data=05%7C01%7CIjaza%40edgehill.ac.uk%7C9abd8ab2bf9841189b3b08dbdc55a2e0%7C093586914d8e491caa760a5cbd5ba734%7C0%7C0%7C638346032864317708%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ZBiwBgP0lZGa5QYI3m%2B8zZmYdjbZ0epEfGsKTMvzd5o%3D&reserved=0">Starbucks</a>, <a href="https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Famericas%2Fcoke-starbucks-russia-boycott-ukraine-b2031512.html&data=05%7C01%7CIjaza%40edgehill.ac.uk%7C9abd8ab2bf9841189b3b08dbdc55a2e0%7C093586914d8e491caa760a5cbd5ba734%7C0%7C0%7C638346032864317708%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=h5h6QJBhlx212mF17euseIECksAlQDGZcsbwr9kRrPU%3D&reserved=0">Coca-Cola</a>, <a href="https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.export.org.uk%2Fnews%2F597544%2FGlobal-brands-boycott-Russia--including-Apple-Ford-Nike-and-Disney-.htm&data=05%7C01%7CIjaza%40edgehill.ac.uk%7C9abd8ab2bf9841189b3b08dbdc55a2e0%7C093586914d8e491caa760a5cbd5ba734%7C0%7C0%7C638346032864474084%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=L5M93cZmVw4mO%2FUHlNRXcdcDxqx7LSKEkddoKP%2Fb40M%3D&reserved=0">Nike</a>, <a href="https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcontent%2F8e5164dc-a907-4211-a58f-726c9342f372&data=05%7C01%7CIjaza%40edgehill.ac.uk%7C9abd8ab2bf9841189b3b08dbdc55a2e0%7C093586914d8e491caa760a5cbd5ba734%7C0%7C0%7C638346032864474084%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=fQbUB%2BpwY772O7IK%2F%2Bs0IXseyfu37rRspAdOxngmlLo%3D&reserved=0">Apple</a>, <a href="https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2022%2Ffeb%2F28%2Fshell-to-exit-joint-ventures-with-gazprom-and-pull-out-of-nord-stream-2&data=05%7C01%7CIjaza%40edgehill.ac.uk%7C9abd8ab2bf9841189b3b08dbdc55a2e0%7C093586914d8e491caa760a5cbd5ba734%7C0%7C0%7C638346032864474084%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=53r6yP6dNUqwtpnmRlKbwCN8i5N%2F1drZaK8CsnGuNmE%3D&reserved=0">BP and Shell</a>. The boycotts damaged the <a href="https://www.economicsobservatory.com/ukraine-whats-the-global-economic-impact-of-russias-invasion">Russian economy</a>, but clearly didn’t stop the invasion.</p>
<p>Of course, many of these companies are now being targeted over Israel. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/07/us-sanctions-against-russia-but-not-israel">US was actually criticised</a> in the weeks after the invasion for encouraging this Russia boycott while refusing to take a similar line over Israel. </p>
<p>In fact, there are laws in place to prevent American municipalities from boycotting Israel themselves, which were upheld by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/feb/21/us-supreme-court-arkansas-anti-boycott-israel-law">the US supreme court</a> earlier this year. <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c6a9855b-1817-4b71-ba24-a4db5b4c923d">There are plans</a> to introduce a similar bill in the UK, and opponents worry it might make it harder to boycott countries like Russia in future.</p>
<h2>Case study 3: anti-wokeism</h2>
<p>In 2015, <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2015/discussing-race-relations-in-america-at-starbucks/">Starbucks initiated</a> a national conversation about race relations and attempting to bring different racial groups together. This attracted <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3046890/the-inside-story-of-starbuckss-race-together-campaign-no-foam">much criticism</a> online for being self-serving, with people pointing out that the chain’s staff weren’t particularly ethnically diverse. </p>
<p>It further backfired in 2018, following <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/apr/19/starbucks-black-men-feared-for-lives-philadelphia">an incident</a> in a Philadelphia outlet where a member of staff got two young black men arrested for refusing to leave because they were waiting to meet someone and wouldn’t order anything. Video footage on social media significantly worsened the situation. </p>
<p>Many people thought it smacked of racism and called for boycotts, prompting Starbucks to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/us/starbucks-philadelphia-black-men-arrest.html">publicly apologise</a> and promise to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/apr/17/starbucks-racism-training-close-stores-may-us">train employees</a> about unconscious race bias. </p>
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<p>More recently, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/14/bud-light-loses-top-us-beer-spot-after-promotion-with-transgender-influencer">Bud Light</a> faced a two-week boycott from conservatives after its “woke” campaign online featuring trans activist Dylan Mulvaney promoting a tallboy can. Sales fell 25% and Bud Light lost its position as the top-selling US beer, prompting owner InBev to try and repair <a href="https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/advertising/wokewashing-are-brands-preying-on-peoples-optimism/95132736">the brand damage</a> by <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ab-inbev-bud-q2-earnings-report-2023-90a57dee">saying it would avoid</a> controversial subjects in future. However, this hasn’t dissuaded companies such as <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/06/dylan-mulvaney-nike-trans-influencer-social-media-post/">Nike</a>, <a href="https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2023%2F08%2F16%2Fbusiness%2Ftarget-sales-pride-backlash.html&data=05%7C01%7CIjaza%40edgehill.ac.uk%7C9abd8ab2bf9841189b3b08dbdc55a2e0%7C093586914d8e491caa760a5cbd5ba734%7C0%7C0%7C638346032864474084%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=OoG3%2FMcNpH3Zp1QysDdG2QPTkls4XzsLxv4i1OuwMmc%3D&reserved=0">Target</a> and <a href="https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffilm%2F2022%2Fmar%2F21%2Fdisney-faces-backlash-lgbtq-controversy-dont-say-gay-bill-florida&data=05%7C01%7CIjaza%40edgehill.ac.uk%7C9abd8ab2bf9841189b3b08dbdc55a2e0%7C093586914d8e491caa760a5cbd5ba734%7C0%7C0%7C638346032864474084%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=9WxwrXVOCabv9iikuze3MmMDFuo%2BwzSEfrRxI9jivlE%3D&reserved=0">Disney</a> from adopting similar pro-trans/LGBTQ strategies. </p>
<h2>What it means for the Israel boycotts</h2>
<p>Judging by the experiences of Denmark and Russia, brand boycotts appear to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296396002792">exert minimal influence</a> on the target nation’s economy. The Russia case suggests they are most likely to succeed
as part of coordinated sanctions, though on that occasion the boycott was still undermined as <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/western-firms-making-money-russia-two-british-2656660">European businesses</a> and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/d5cf8b2f-27f0-42ee-b22b-695eca7122e1">third countries</a> found <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10072797/">ways to</a> get <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/233891c0-2c8c-484a-88d3-86ba252d5b31">around it</a>. </p>
<p>The best solution is for the international community to implement a system <a href="https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/251680/1/bpb1808.pdf">penalising</a> such activities, which hasn’t existed with Russia. In the absence of coordinated sanctions against Israel, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022002717721392?casa_token=8COjaA8p7t8AAAAA%3AujGBogiS8Rxh6fARJ9Qhp0CDkUp4v7PTxIUUcL2SSv7nDef5HldJ5rbv4zj-IYtCFC9Iw__ogh2W">social media</a> is likely to be the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/world/middleeast/palestinians-social-media.html">sole means</a> of <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/business/did-you-kill-a-palestinian-western-brands-face-sweeping-boycott-in-mideast-15710204">pressuring companies</a> and <a href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=d1bd6322f7674613347ed9e4f00eed1087c21784">governments</a> into change. </p>
<p>Western brands have <a href="https://www.provokemedia.com/latest/article/brands-play-it-safe-on-israel-hamas-conflict">been noticeably quiet</a> on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza (and also Ukraine), in contrast to their willingness to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00936502211001622">risk supporting</a> anti-racism and LGBTQ+. </p>
<p>Many people will find this extremely disappointing, though of course, the examples of Starbucks and Bud Light show how companies can end up in trouble if their stance is seen as inauthentic or <a href="https://biopen.bi.no/bi-xmlui/handle/11250/3097302">“woke-washing”</a>. Companies trading in Israel or even whose government is backing the offensive could easily fall into that category. </p>
<p>In sum, the boycotts against American companies have succeeded in <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/isudijo14&div=38&id=&page=">raising awareness</a> about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, but probably won’t have a huge economic impact. </p>
<p>If the <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/b406bd4394738597da0782fd1aa21bef/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=26627">international community</a> would encourage corporate action against Israel like it did with Russia, it might make all the difference, but there is little sign of that happening so far.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217125/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aisha Ijaz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The consumer boycotts over the Gaza crisis are the latest in a long line. Here’s when they’re more effective.Aisha Ijaz, Lecturer in Marketing, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2126802023-09-29T17:00:37Z2023-09-29T17:00:37ZLost in the coffee aisle? Navigating the complex buzzwords behind an ‘ethical’ bag of beans is easier said than done<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551067/original/file-20230928-21-efm249.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C2121%2C1397&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The text on a single bag of coffee can feel like information overload.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-asian-woman-pushing-a-shopping-cart-grocery-royalty-free-image/1469902811?phrase=coffee+aisle&adppopup=true">d3sign/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’re shopping for a bag of coffee beans at the grocery store. After reading about <a href="https://theconversation.com/coffee-60-of-wild-species-are-at-risk-of-extinction-due-to-climate-change-109982">the effects of climate change</a> and how little farmers make – <a href="https://perfectdailygrind.com/2022/09/how-much-of-the-price-of-a-cup-of-coffee-do-farmers-receive/">typically $0.40 per cup</a> – you figure it might be time to change your usual beans and buy something more ethical. Perusing the shelves in the coffee aisle, though, you see too many choices.</p>
<p>First up is the red tub of Folgers “100% Colombian,” a kitchen staple – “lively with a roasted and rich finish.” On the side of the tub, you see <a href="https://luzmedia.co/colombian-coffee">the icon of Juan Valdez</a> with his donkey, Conchita – a fictional mascot representing the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation.</p>
<p>Next might be Starbucks “<a href="https://www.kroger.com/p/starbucks-colombia-medium-roast-ground-coffee/0076211120611">Single-Origin Colombia</a>.” One side of the green bag tells “the story” of the beans, describing “treacherous dirt roads” to “6,500 feet of elevation” that are “worth the journey every time.” The other shows a QR code and promises Starbucks is “Committed to 100% Ethical Coffee Sourcing in partnership with Conservation International.” </p>
<p>Then again, you’ve heard that a “better” choice would be to buy from local cafes. The bag from your local roaster introduces you to La Familia Vieira of Huila, Colombia, who have worked as coffee farmers for four generations at 1,600 meters above sea level – about a mile. But then there’s a flood of unfamiliar lingo: the 88-point anerobic-processed coffee was sourced directly from an importer who has a six-year relationship with the family, paid $3.70 per pound at farmgate, and $6.10 per pound FOB at a time when the C-market price was $1.60 per pound.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a straw hat and pink shirt pours brightly colored berries through an open-air processor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551072/original/file-20230928-21-o96poq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coffee farmer Julian Pinilla uses a coffee grinder during an interview with AFP in Valle del Cauca, Colombia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/coffee-farmer-julian-pinilla-uses-a-coffee-grinder-during-news-photo/1504615725?adppopup=true">Juan Restrepo/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>If you’re about ready to toss in the towel, you’re hardly alone. Consumers are often asked to make more responsible choices. Yet when it comes to commodity goods like coffee, the complex production chain can turn an uncomplicated habit into a complicated decision.</p>
<p>As a coffee enthusiast and <a href="https://www.uml.edu/msb/faculty/ross-spencer.aspx">marketing professor who researches marketplace justice</a>, I’ve long been fascinated with how ethics and coffee consumption are intertwined. Before COVID-19, my family <a href="https://www.instagram.com/yukro.cat/">adopted a cat and named him Yukro</a>, after a coffee-producing community in Ethiopia. While we were quarantining at home, I ordered Yukro-originating coffee from as many roasters as I could find to try to understand how consumers were supposed to make an informed choice.</p>
<p>Paradoxically, the more information I gleaned, the less I knew how to make a responsible decision. Indeed, prior research has indicated that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.03.011">information overload increases the paradox of choice</a>; this is no different when factoring in ethical information. Additionally, as with a lot of consumer-facing information, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/07439156231202746">it can be difficult to tell what information is relevant or credible</a>. </p>
<p>Marketers attempt to simplify this overload by using buzzwords that sound good but may not get across much nuance. However, you might consider some of these terms when trying to decide between “100% Colombian” and the Vieira family. </p>
<h2>Fair trade</h2>
<p>As a benchmark, the coffee industry typically uses the “C-price”: <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/future/kc00">the traded price</a> on the New York Intercontinental Exchange for a pound of coffee ready for export. “Fair trade” implies the coffee is fairly traded, often with the goal of paying farmers minimum prices – and fixed premiums – above the C-price. </p>
<p>There are a few different fair trade certifications, such as <a href="https://www.fairtradeamerica.org/">Fairtrade America</a> or <a href="https://www.fairtradecertified.org/">Fair Trade Certified</a>. Each of these has its own, voluntary certification standards linked with the associated organization. Yet <a href="https://cdn.coffeestrategies.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Sustainable-Coffee-Certifications-Comparison-Matrix-2010.pdf">obtaining certification</a> can come at significant additional cost for farms or importers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Women spread out coffee beans on a drying rack in an open field with hills in the distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551070/original/file-20230928-25-et44vv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Farmers work on the coffee seed harvest in the Nandi province of Tindiret, Kenya.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-farmers-are-on-the-process-of-coffee-seed-harvest-at-news-photo/1650320045?adppopup=true">Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, some importers, or even roasters, have established relationships with specific farms, rather than buying beans at auction on the open market. These relationships potentially allow the importers to work directly with farmers over multi-year periods to improve the coffee quality and conditions. Longer-term commitment can provide farmers more certainty in times when the C-price is below their cost of production. </p>
<p>Yet these arrangements can be just as volatile for farmers if the importers they’ve committed to cannot find roasters interested in buying their beans – beans they could have sold at auction themselves.</p>
<h2>100% arabica</h2>
<p>There are several species of coffee, but <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-and/climate-coffee">approximately 70% of the world’s production</a> comes from the arabica species, which grows well at higher altitudes. Like with wine, there are several varieties of arabica, and they tend to be a bit sweeter than other species – making arabica the ideal species for satisfying consumers.</p>
<p>In other words, a label like “100% arabica” is meant to signal deliciousness and prestige – though it’s about as descriptive as calling a bottle of pinot noir “100% red.”</p>
<p>When it comes to the environment, though, arabica isn’t necessarily a win. Many arabica varieties are susceptible to climate change-related conditions such as coffee rust – <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/09/coffee-rust/616358/">a common fungus</a> that spreads easily and can devastate farms – or drought. </p>
<p>Other coffee species such as robusta or <a href="https://intelligence.coffee/2023/03/whatever-happened-eugenioides-coffee/">the less common eugenioides</a> are more climate-change resistant, reducing costs of production for farmers, and are <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/675807/average-prices-arabica-and-robusta-coffee-worldwide/">cheaper on commodity markets</a>. However, they have a bit of a <a href="https://sprudge.com/what-is-eugenioides-coffee-181142.html">different taste profile</a> than what folks are normally used to, which could mean lower earnings for farmers who make the switch, but could also provide new opportunities in areas where coffee was not previously farmed or to new markets of consumers’ tastes.</p>
<h2>Single-origin</h2>
<p>If someone labeled a peach as “American,” a consumer would rightly wonder where exactly it came from. Similarly, “single-origin” is a very broad description that could mean the coffee came from “Africa” or “Ethiopia” or “Jimma Zone” – even the zone’s specific town of “Agaro.” “Single-estate” at least gives slightly more farm-level information, though even this information may be tough to come by. </p>
<p>Consumers have tended to want their coffee’s journey from seed to cup to be <a href="https://perfectdailygrind.com/2023/04/do-specialty-coffee-consumers-want-to-connect-with-farmers/">traceable and transparent</a>, which implies that everyone along the production chain is committed to equity – and “single-origin” appears to provide those qualities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a blue shirt crouches to examine small green fruits along a stem." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551069/original/file-20230928-17-hi274j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Egyptian farmer Ahmad al-Hijawi’s Yemeni coffee beans are cultivated in the shade of mango trees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-egyptian-farmer-ahmad-al-hijawis-yemeni-coffee-news-photo/1673786616?adppopup=true">Mohamed Elshahed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a result, some coffee marketers invest quite a bit in being able to craft a narrative that emotionally resonates with consumers and makes them feel “connected” to the farm. Others have developed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joitmc.2023.100008">blockchain solutions</a> where each step along the coffee’s journey, from bean to retail, is documented in a database that consumers can look at. Since blockchain data are immutable, the information a consumer gets from scanning a QR code on a label of a coffee bag should provide a clear chain of provenance.</p>
<h2>Shade-grown</h2>
<p>Shade-grown labels indicate that farms have adopted a more environmentally sustainable method, using biomatter like dead leaves as natural fertilizer for the coffee shrubs <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.877476">growing beneath a canopy of trees</a>. Unlike other methods, shade-grown coffee doesn’t increase deforestation, and it protects habitats for animals like migratory birds – which is why the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, which has developed its own coffee certification program, <a href="https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/bird-friendly">calls it “bird-friendly</a>.”</p>
<p>But as with fair trade, there are costs associated with certification, and those costs are often passed on to consumers. Farmers or importers are left justifying the cost and wondering if the specialized label can attract a large enough market to validate their decision to certify. That said, many farmers who have the ability will do shade-grown regardless, since it’s a better farming practice and <a href="https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2019/03/12/shade-grown-coffee-sustainable/">saves some costs</a> on fertilizer.</p>
<p>In the end, all this information – or lack thereof – is a tool for consumers to use when making their coffee choices. Like any tool, sometimes it’s helpful, and sometimes not. These labels might not make your decision any easier, and might drive you right back to your “usual” bag of beans – but at least your choice can be more nuanced.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212680/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Spencer M. Ross is a former member of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) and has presented seminars twice at SCA events.</span></em></p>If you’ve decided to look for coffee that’s better for the earth or the people making it, you might need some help translating all the industry lingo.Spencer M. Ross, Associate Professor of Marketing, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2059812023-05-20T00:33:07Z2023-05-20T00:33:07ZUnionized bodies in topless bar! Strippers join servers and baristas in new labor movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527289/original/file-20230519-23-zdmud0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C303%2C5601%2C3487&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dancers at Star Garden in LA have voted for union representation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/general-view-of-the-star-garden-topless-dive-bar-on-may-18-news-photo/1491335689?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dancers at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in Los Angeles have <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1134667170/strippers-union-los-angeles-dancers-star-garden">voted to become the only unionized strippers</a> in the U.S. – joining a <a href="https://theconversation.com/america-is-in-the-middle-of-a-labor-mobilization-moment-with-self-organizers-at-starbucks-amazon-trader-joes-and-chipotle-behind-the-union-drive-189826">growing trend of young employees</a> seeking workplace protection though labor mobilization.</p>
<p>On May 18, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board announced that balloted employees at the topless bar had <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/18/business/stripper-union-california/index.html">voted 17-0 in favor</a> of joining the <a href="https://www.actorsequity.org/">Actors’ Equity Association</a>.</p>
<p>It makes Star Garden the first unionized strip club since the now-defunct <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/what-it-was-like-to-work-at-the-lusty-lady-a-unionized-strip-club/279236/">Lusty Lady in San Francisco and Seattle</a>. That 1996 union campaign was later the subject of the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264802/">documentary “Live Nude Girls Unite</a>.” </p>
<p>Lusty Lady shut its doors in Seattle in 2010, and three years later in San Francisco, making Star Garden if not the first then at present the only unionized strip club. But given the high-profile nature of the campaign – and the impact of union drives among young staff elsewhere – <a href="https://cob.sfsu.edu/directory/john-logan">I believe</a> that there is a high chance that Star Garden won’t be the last strip joint to unionize.</p>
<h2>Rusty nails and broken glass</h2>
<p>Star Garden is the latest in a string of organizing breakthroughs. In 2022, 2,510 petitions for union representation were filed with National Labor Relations Board elections – a <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/unfair-labor-practices-charge-filings-up-16-union-petitions-remain-up-in">53% increase from 2021 and the highest number since 2016</a>. And petitions for union elections have continued to increase in 2023. </p>
<p>Just as at Star Garden, many of the recent union victories have occurred in workplaces that previously seemed resistant to labor drives. Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe’s, Apple retail stores, REI, Ben & Jerry’s, Chipotle and Barnes & Noble are among the big-name companies that have seen staff unionize for the first time since workers voted to unionize at Starbucks in Buffalo in December 2021. And evidence suggests that a successful union drive leads to more. Workers at <a href="https://newlaborforum.cuny.edu/2023/03/31/a-model-for-labors-renewal-the-starbucks-campaign/">over 300 Starbucks stores</a> have now voted to unionize, and their efforts have inspired young workers throughout the low-wage service sector. </p>
<p>But in other crucial ways their campaign chimes with that of the other new union drives than have occurred recently in the United States. Star Garden employs the same kind of young, self-assured workers that have contributed to the dynamism of union campaigns at Starbucks, Trader Joe’s and others. Most of the dancers are in their 20s and 30s, and they have proved assured spokespeople for the union during <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/12/1120759940/star-garden-stripper-topless-dancers-union-striking-los-angeles-california">the campaign’s extensive coverage</a> in traditional and social media. </p>
<h2>Youth-driven campaigns</h2>
<p>In contrast to past generations of union drives, it is young employees that are spearheading the new push for unions. And they are doing so independently, with <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-starbucks-and-the-sparking-of-a-new-american-union-movement-180293">less outside mobilizing from established union leaders</a>. The Star Garden workers self-organized and repeatedly pressured management to act on their concerns before <a href="https://www.law360.com/employment-authority/articles/1524811/calif-dancers-moving-to-form-nation-s-only-strip-club-union">deciding to petition for a union election with Actors’ Equity Union</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men and women in black T-shirts with 'Starbucks Workers Union' emblems on the front jump in the air." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527295/original/file-20230519-15-z65a08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Starbucks employees and supporters celebrate a successful union drive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/UnionMembership/2b391175f2054871aff7d7f752e6f773/photo?Query=Starbucks%20union&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=140&currentItemNo=29">AP Photo/Joshua Bessex</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moreover, the issues cited by Star Garden workers as evidence of a need for union protection – sexual harassment by customers, unresponsive management and an unsafe working environment – are in many respects just more extreme versions <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/starbucks-workers-at-the-nyc-roastery-strike-against-unsafe-work-conditions/">of the problems</a> that have driven many retail and food-service-sector workers to mobilize.</p>
<h2>Anti-union tactics</h2>
<p>In common with workers at Starbucks, REI and Trader Joe’s, the Star Garden dancers concluded that having a union and collective bargaining was the surest way to remedy such problems. </p>
<p>And like many of those other workforces, the Star Garden strippers faced a long battle against management to achieve that goal.</p>
<p>The organizing campaign<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1134667170/strippers-union-los-angeles-dancers-star-garden"> lasted for 15 months</a> as a result of company’s efforts to fight worker organizing and then prevent a union vote. </p>
<p>Workers voted in a National Labor Relations Board election in November 2022, but management opposition prevented the labor board from counting the ballots until last week. Among other tactics, the owners of Star Garden are <a href="https://money.yahoo.com/huge-win-hollywood-star-garden-211500506.html">alleged to have retaliated</a> against workers for protesting an unsafe working environment and claimed that the workers were independent contractors, not employees. Employers also <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/16/1134667170/strippers-union-los-angeles-dancers-star-garden">filed for bankruptcy</a> – an act that can void a union contract.</p>
<p>But the anti-union tactics failed. When the ballots were eventually counted, they showed that workers had voted unanimously for union recognition. In common with campaigns at Starbucks and elsewhere, the success at Star Garden suggests that traditional <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/union-busting-what-is-it">anti-union tactics</a> may be <a href="https://theconversation.com/america-is-in-the-middle-of-a-labor-mobilization-moment-with-self-organizers-at-starbucks-amazon-trader-joes-and-chipotle-behind-the-union-drive-189826">less effective with today’s younger workers</a>. </p>
<p>There is another common theme in the rash of union breakthroughs in recent years: They have generated headlines.</p>
<p>Star Garden may not have the big-name appeal to media outlets of, say, Starbucks or Amazon. But the nature of the business involved lends itself to widespread media and social coverage. In short, “strippers’ unionize” <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/05/06/la-strippers-look-to-form-first-exotic-dancers-union-in-decades/">makes</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/18/los-angeles-strip-club-dancers-unionize-actors-equity-association">for</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/business/strippers-union-labor.html">great</a> <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3606699-strippers-at-la-club-move-to-unionize/">headlines</a>.</p>
<p>The high profile of this and other drives is an important part of the story. Widespread social media and traditional news coverage can <a href="https://academicminute.org/2022/02/john-logan-san-francisco-state-university-why-are-unions-suddenly-such-a-hot-topic-and-does-it-matter">raise awareness of the potential to unionize</a> among other young workforces. It conveys to employees that organizing is something they can do, not just something they read about. </p>
<h2>Time for a new corporate strategy?</h2>
<p>There is also a takeaway from union drives by Star Garden strippers and other workers for corporations: The public may be tiring of old-style anti-union tactics, and it may be in their interests to work with employees seeking to unionize.</p>
<p>As Lilith, one of the Star Garden dancers, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fp0fzc">told the BBC</a>: “A union strip club is going to be a novelty in the United States. It will have customers from all over. … I think if both parties come to negotiate in good faith, we can create a really successful business together.”</p>
<p>From my perspective, it does prompt the question of whether it is time for company bosses to embrace unions. With <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/398303/approval-labor-unions-highest-point-1965.aspx">over 70% of the public approving of unions</a> – and a much higher proportion of young workers – companies like Star Garden, Starbucks and REI could potentially benefit from marketing themselves as “good employers” who respect their workers’ right to choose a union. </p>
<p>Vermont-based Ben & Jerry’s is one such company seemingly taking that approach. In January, it became the <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90890085/ben-and-jerrys-ice-cream-scoopers-union-fair-election-demands">first major national employer to sign</a> the Starbucks Workers United-initiated “Fair Election Principles,” which would guarantee workers a free and fair choice to unionize. The union recognition process at Ben & Jerry’s is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/04/17/benjerrys-ice-cream-union/">scheduled for the Monday of Memorial Day weekend</a>. </p>
<p>Star Garden may be the country’s only unionized topless bar. But it is part of a wider trend that is influencing attitudes toward mobilizing in young workforces across the country – from servers to ice cream scoopers and now strippers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205981/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Young motivated employees are pushing the movement for union representation among US workforces. Is it time for management to get on board?John Logan, Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies, San Francisco State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1983612023-01-25T13:24:37Z2023-01-25T13:24:37ZStarbucks fans are steamed: The psychology behind why changes to a rewards program are stirring up anger, even though many will get grande benefits<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505961/original/file-20230123-17-2qnxy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=129%2C64%2C5245%2C3028&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The rewards price to get a free cup of hot coffee at Starbucks is going up. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Starbucks-Prices/753e06140e904010985aa9054221808d/photo?Query=starbucks%20iced%20coffee&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=22&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Elaine Thompson</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Starbucks, the coffee chain giant, is modifying its rewards program, and the news is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/01/13/starbucks-rewards-changes">full of stories</a> of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/some-starbucks-customers-are-furious-about-rewards-program-changes-2022-12">outraged consumers</a>.</p>
<p>The main focus of their ire is that, starting Feb. 13, 2023, it will <a href="https://www.today.com/food/restaurants/starbucks-announces-big-changes-popular-rewards-program-rcna63589">cost twice as many</a> of the program’s reward points, called stars, to earn a free cup of hot coffee.</p>
<p>When companies pare rewards programs back, there is often <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/14/business/best-buy-rewards-dunkin-starbucks-ctpr">significant customer pushback</a>. A recent example in the coffee market was seen in the fall of 2022 when <a href="https://www.bu.edu/articles/2022/why-dunkins-rewards-program-angered-people/">Dunkin’ made it harder to get free</a> items <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/10/10/dunkin-donuts-rewards-program-customer-backlash/">with its rewards program</a>, also leading to customer backlash. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.bu.edu/questrom/profile/huseyin-karaca/">We</a> <a href="https://www.bu.edu/questrom/profile/jay-zagorsky/">are</a> business school <a href="http://businessmacroeconomics.com/">professors</a> who study <a href="https://theconversation.com/whens-the-best-time-to-use-frequent-flyer-miles-to-book-flights-two-economists-crunched-the-numbers-on-maximizing-their-dollar-value-194893">frequent flyer</a> and other rewards programs. While we don’t drink very much Starbucks coffee, we are fascinated by the reaction of Starbucks customers – and what they seemed to miss. </p>
<h2>Building loyalty</h2>
<p>Reward and frequent flyer programs are designed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/02634509810199535">build loyalty</a>, as they provide a form of rebate to regulars. They also are seen by consumers as a good way to save money, particularly when inflation is high.</p>
<p>They are also <a href="https://hbr.org/1995/05/do-rewards-really-create-loyalty">meant to lock customers</a> into a particular company or airline. In the case of Starbucks, the rewards program reduces the likelihood that its customers will buy coffee from <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/101315/who-are-starbucks-main-competitors.asp">competitors like Dunkin</a>, <a href="https://bstrategyhub.com/starbucks-competitors-alternatives/">Costa Coffee, Tim Hortons or Peet’s Coffee</a>. </p>
<p>Even though <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2012.05.003">airline rewards programs have been around</a> for years, rewards programs among large restaurant chains are relatively new. Sandwich chain Subway, for example, <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/subway-to-launch-north-america-loyalty-program-300602627.html">didn’t start one until 2018</a>. Fast-food company McDonald’s <a href="https://adage.com/article/marketing-news-strategy/mcdonalds-loyalty-program-year-old-how-its-doing/2420156">only launched its loyalty program</a> in 2021.</p>
<p>And now, even small businesses <a href="https://www.nrn.com/technology/loyalty-programs-are-leveling-playing-field-smaller-restaurants">are finding it valuable and easier</a> to start loyalty programs, thanks to the acceleration of digital technology in restaurants during the pandemic. About 57% of restaurant chains <a href="https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/restaurants-double-down-on-loyalty-programs-retain-customers-maximize-revenues">now have a loyalty program</a>. </p>
<h2>Rewards math</h2>
<p>Starbucks, however, is an old-timer, having started its <a href="https://archive.starbucks.com/record/rewarding-our-customers">rewards program all the way back in 2008</a>. </p>
<p>The program, which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-loyalty-programs-stores-2019-4">had been regarded by some</a> as one of the most rewarding, gained members steadily during its first two decades but <a href="https://s22.q4cdn.com/869488222/files/doc_downloads/2022/11/Q4-FY22-Digital-Dashboard.pdf">exploded in growth during the pandemic</a>. At the end of 2022, about 29 million people were enrolled, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-rewards-program-changes-explained-2019-4?r=US&IR=T">up from a little over 16 million</a> in early 2019.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.starbucks.com/rewards/terms/">rewards program’s rules are quite complex</a>: The legal language runs about five times longer than this article.</p>
<p>Briefly, customers earn credits by spending money. Each dollar spent on food or drinks earns one star. However, preloading money onto a Starbucks gift card or mobile app earns two times the stars.</p>
<p>Stars can then be spent on drinks, food or merchandise. Under the current program, the <a href="https://www.starbucks.com/rewards">simplest and cheapest reward</a>, for 25 stars, is adding a free shot, dairy substitute or flavoring to a drink. The highest cost items, for <a href="https://www.ncesc.com/starbucks-400-stars-merchandise-the-ultimate/">400 stars, are merchandise</a>, like a branded cup or a bag of ground coffee.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Several hands hold two clear plastic cups of iced coffee on a table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506117/original/file-20230124-25-5kl32r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506117/original/file-20230124-25-5kl32r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506117/original/file-20230124-25-5kl32r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506117/original/file-20230124-25-5kl32r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506117/original/file-20230124-25-5kl32r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506117/original/file-20230124-25-5kl32r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506117/original/file-20230124-25-5kl32r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Iced drinks have become Starbucks’ most popular beverage – even in winter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/couple-has-iced-coffee-drinks-at-a-starbucks-coffee-shop-in-news-photo/89988724?phrase=Starbucks%20iced%20coffee">Chris Hondros/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Consumer friendly?</h2>
<p>Starbucks <a href="https://www.restaurantdive.com/news/starbucks-updates-rewards-program/639478/">announced changes</a> to the <a href="https://www.starbucks.com/rewards/terms-coming-soon/">terms and conditions</a> of its rewards program in December, adjusting the “price” for some of its items. </p>
<p>The change that received the most attention was that the cost of a cup of plain hot coffee or tea would double from 50 stars to 100. </p>
<p>At first glance, Starbucks’ modification to its rewards program might be perceived as bad for consumers. But there is more to this change than meets the eye. What went less noticed is that the company is also lowering the price to get a free iced coffee or tea from 150 points to 100.</p>
<p>To an unsuspecting consumer, the points reduction for iced coffee may not mean as much against the points increase for hot coffee. The coffee business, however, has radically changed over the last few years. The change is best summarized by a recent New York Times headline, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/style/iced-coffee-starbucks.html">Does anyone drink hot coffee anymore?</a>” Iced or <a href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/cold-brew-coffee-market">cold-brewed coffee is now the rage</a> – even in winter – and <a href="https://www.ncausa.org/Industry-Resources/Cold-Brew">growing quickly</a>. Cold beverages <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/style/iced-coffee-starbucks.html">have accounted for at least 60%</a> of Starbucks’ total sales every quarter since early 2021, thanks in part to the popularity of iced drinks among Gen Z customers. </p>
<p>This means that for a large share of Starbucks customers, one part of the rewards program is actually getting more generous. </p>
<p>So why the uproar, if one of the more popular items on Starbucks’ menu is getting cheaper? </p>
<p><a href="https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/resources/mini-encyclopedia-of-be/loss-aversion/">Loss aversion</a>, a key concept in behavioral economics, provides a simple explanation. Loss aversion means people perceive something they lose as a bigger deal than something equivalent they gain. People who need to spend 50 more stars from now on to get a hot coffee feel more pain than customers who will spend 50 fewer stars to earn a free iced coffee. This extra pain leads to more complaints from those hurt and little praise from those benefiting.</p>
<h2>Rewarding customers</h2>
<p>Starbucks, for its part, <a href="https://customerservice.starbucks.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6910">explained the new rewards system this way</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“This change allows us to improve the health of our program while making member favorites like iced coffee easier to earn.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While its critics may disagree about the reason for the decision, ongoing research by <a href="https://www.bu.edu/questrom/profile/huseyin-karaca/">one of us</a> conducted into a tea chain suggests retailers have a profit incentive to make their rewards programs more generous. The reason is simple: When rewards are easier to earn, customers become more motivated to collect points, especially as they <a href="https://home.uchicago.edu/ourminsky/Goal-Gradient_Illusionary_Goal_Progress.pdf">approach a reward</a> they can redeem. This is why airlines see some customers <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/guide/how-why-mileage-run/">doing mileage runs at the end of the year</a>, just to earn better status. </p>
<p>From the company’s perspective, the benefits from customers shopping more frequently can surpass the costs incurred by providing more rewards. And so for companies and consumers, rewards programs can benefit everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many Starbucks customers are irked by recent changes to its popular rewards program. But they may not have as much to complain about as it seems.H. Sami Karaca, Professor of Business Analytics, Boston UniversityJay L. Zagorsky, Clinical associate professor, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1959952023-01-05T13:25:49Z2023-01-05T13:25:49ZWorker strikes and union elections surged in 2022 – could it mark a turning point for organized labor?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502684/original/file-20221227-105766-jpnmtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=131%2C74%2C5351%2C3581&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workers such as these Starbucks employees in St. Anthony, Minn., increasingly went on strike in 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/st-anthony-minnesota-starbucks-workers-across-the-country-news-photo/1450371794?phrase=union%20strike">Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Workers organized and took to the picket line in increased numbers in 2022 to demand better pay and working conditions, leading to <a href="https://www.virginiamercury.com/2022/09/05/america-is-in-the-middle-of-a-labor-mobilization-moment/">optimism</a> among <a href="https://www.afscme.org/blog/cause-for-optimism-on-labor-day">labor leaders</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-06-30/labor-strikes-in-uk-us-workers-unite-against-inflation-cost-of-living-crisis">advocates</a> that they’re <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-starbucks-and-the-sparking-of-a-new-american-union-movement-180293">witnessing a turnaround</a> in labor’s sagging fortunes. </p>
<p><a href="https://gothamist.com/news/new-school-teachers-strike-ends-as-nyc-university-agrees-to-first-pay-raises-in-4-years">Teachers</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/business/media/new-york-times-union-walkout.html">journalists</a> and <a href="https://www.arlnow.com/2022/11/17/newly-unionized-starbucks-baristas-are-on-strike-in-courthouse/">baristas</a> were among the tens of thousands of workers who went on strike – and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/12/01/1140123647/rail-strike-bill-senate">it took an act of Congress</a> to prevent 115,000 railroad employees from walking out as well. In total, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/wsp/publications/monthly-details/XLSX/work-stoppages-2022.xlsx">there have been at least 20 major work stoppages</a> involving at least 1,000 workers each in 2022, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/16-major-work-stoppages-in-2021.htm">up from 16 in 2021</a>, and <a href="https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu/">hundreds more that were smaller</a>.</p>
<p>At the same time, workers at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple and dozens of other companies <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/reports/nlrb-case-activity-reports/representation-cases/intake/representation-petitions-rc/">filed over 2,000 petitions</a> to form unions during the year – the most since 2015. Workers won 76% of the 1,363 elections that were held.</p>
<p>Historically, however, these figures are pretty tepid. The number of major work stoppages <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/16-major-work-stoppages-in-2021.htm">has been plunging for decades</a>, from nearly 200 as recently as 1980, while union elections typically exceeded 5,000 a year before the 1980s. As of 2021, union membership was at about the lowest level on record, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm">at 10.3%</a>. In the 1950s, over 1 in 3 workers belonged to a union. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://ilitchbusiness.wayne.edu/profile/eb9543">labor scholar</a>, I agree that the evidence shows a surge in union activism. The obvious question is: Do these developments manifest a tipping point? </p>
<h2>Signs of increased union activism</h2>
<p>First, let’s take a closer look at 2022.</p>
<p>The most noteworthy sign of labor’s revival has been the rise in the number of petitions filed with the National Labor Relations Board. In fiscal year 2022, which ended in September, <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/reports/nlrb-case-activity-reports/representation-cases/intake/representation-petitions-rc">workers filed 2,072 petitions</a>, up 63% from the previous year. Starbucks workers alone <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/reports/agency-performance-report/election-reports/election-reports-fy-2022">filed 354 of these petitions</a>, winning the vast majority of the elections held. In addition, employees at companies <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/labors-john-l-lewis-moment/https://www.eventbrite.com/e/what-can-labor-do-to-build-on-this-unusually-promising-moment-tickets-380700223617">historically deemed untouchable</a> by unions, including Apple, Microsoft and Wells Fargo, also scored wins.</p>
<p>The increase in strike activity is also important. And while the major strikes that involve 1,000 or more employees and are tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics arouse the greatest attention, they represent only the tip of the iceberg. </p>
<p>The bureau recorded <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/16-major-work-stoppages-in-2021.htm">20 major strikes in 2022</a>, which is about 25% more than the average of 16 a year over the past two decades. Examples of these major strikes include the recent one-day New York Times walkout, two strikes in California involving more than <a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2022/08/19/frontier-communications-workers-strike-over-subcontracting/">3,000 workers at health care company Kaiser Permanente</a>, <a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2022/08/19/frontier-communications-workers-strike-over-subcontracting/">2,100 workers at Frontier Communications</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/27/university-of-california-strike-settlement">48,000 workers at the University of California</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="RdENa" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/RdENa/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Since 2021, <a href="https://striketracker.ilr.cornell.edu">Cornell University has been keeping track</a> of any labor action, however small, and found that there were a total of 385 strikes in calendar year 2022, up from 270 in the previous year. In total, these reported strikes have occurred in nearly 600 locations in 19 states., signifying the geographic breadth of activism. </p>
<h2>Historical parallels</h2>
<p>Of course, these figures are still quite low by historical standards.</p>
<p>I believe two previous spikes in the early 20th century offer some clues as to whether recent events could lead to sustained gains in union membership. </p>
<p>From 1934 to 1939, <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RL32553.pdf">union membership soared</a> from 7.6% to 19.2%. A few years later, from 1941 to 1945, membership climbed from 20% to 27%.</p>
<p>Both spikes occurred during periods of national and global upheaval. The first spike came in the latter half of the Great Depression, when unemployment in the U.S. <a href="https://www.fdrlibrary.org/great-depression-facts">reached as high as a quarter</a> of the workforce. Economic deprivation and a lack of workplace protections led to widespread political and social activism and sweeping efforts to organize workers in response. It also <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/who-we-are/our-history/1935-passage-of-the-wagner-act">contributed to the enactment</a> of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, which stimulated organizing in the industrial sector. </p>
<p>The second jump came as the U.S. mobilized the economy to fight a two-front war in Europe and Asia. National economic mobilization to support the war led to growth in manufacturing employment, where unions had been making substantial gains. Government wartime policy encouraged unionization as part of a bargain for industrial peace during the war. </p>
<h2>Inequality and pandemic heroes</h2>
<p>Today’s situation is a far cry from the economic misery of the Great Depression or the social upheaval of a global war, but there are some parallels worth exploring. </p>
<p>Overall unemployment may be near record lows, but economic inequality is higher than it was during the Depression. The <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/table/#quarter:129;series:Net%20worth;demographic:networth;population:all;units:shares;">top 10% of households hold over 68%</a> of the wealth in the U.S. In 1936, <a href="https://eml.berkeley.edu/%7Esaez/saez-UStopincomes-2012.pdf">this was about 47%</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, the top 0.1% of wage earners <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation">experienced a nearly 390% increase</a> in real wages from 1979 to 2020, versus a meager 28.2% pay hike for the bottom 90%. And employment in manufacturing, where unions had gained a stronghold in the 1940s and 1950s, slipped over 33% from 1979 to 2022.</p>
<p>Another parallel to the two historical precedents concerns national mobilization. The pandemic required a massive response in early 2020, as workers in industries deemed essential, such as health care, public safety and food and agriculture, <a href="https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/essential-workers-are-bearing-the-brunt-of-covid-19/19731074/">bore the brunt of its impact</a>, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/interactives/meet-the-covid-19-frontline-heroes/">earning them the label “heroes”</a> for their efforts. In such an environment, workers began to appreciate more the <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/why-unions-are-good-for-workers-especially-in-a-crisis-like-covid-19-12-policies-that-would-boost-worker-rights-safety-and-wages/">protections they derived from unions</a> for occupational safety and health, eventually helping birth much-hyped recent labor trends like the “great resignation” and “quiet quitting.” </p>
<h2>A stacked deck</h2>
<p>Ultimately, however, the deck is still heavily stacked against unions, with <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/labors-john-l-lewis-moment">unsupportive labor laws</a> and <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/what-can-labor-do-to-build-on-this-unusually-promising-moment-tickets-380700223617">very few employers showing</a> real receptivity to having a unionized workforce. </p>
<p>And <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674725119">unions are limited</a> in how much they can change public policy or the structure of the U.S. economy that makes unionization difficult. Reforming labor law through legislation has remained elusive, and the results of the 2022 midterms are not likely to make it any easier. </p>
<p>This makes me unconvinced that recent signs of progress represent a turning point. </p>
<p>An ace up labor’s sleeve may be public sentiment. Support for labor <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/354455/approval-labor-unions-highest-point-1965.aspx">is at its highest since 1965</a>, with 71% saying they approve of unions, according to a Gallup poll in August. And workers themselves are increasingly showing an interest in joining them. In 2017, <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/working-people-want-a-voice/">48% of workers polled</a> said they would vote for union representation, up from 32% in 1995, the last time this question was asked. </p>
<p>Future success may depend on unions’ ability to tap into their growing popularity and emulate the recent wins at Starbucks and Amazon, as well as the successful “Fight for $15” campaign, which since 2012 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/23/fight-for-15-movement-10-years-old">has helped pass $15 minimum wage laws</a> in a dozen states and Washington, D.C. </p>
<p>The odds may be steep, but the seeds of opportunity are there if labor is able to exploit them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195995/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marick Masters does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Workers have filed the most union petitions since 2015 and the number of strikes have surged, but whether this turns into a sustained increase in membership rates is still unclear.Marick Masters, Professor of Business and Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1919752022-11-07T13:35:47Z2022-11-07T13:35:47ZYe and Adidas break up: Why brand marriages sometimes go bad<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492643/original/file-20221031-23-ir8tys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=80%2C67%2C2910%2C1926&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ye, formerly Kanye West, lost some of his corporate partners after expressing antisemitic remarks. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/YeSportsTerminations/fb53306fd45643e48955537691a04757/photo?Query=Kanye%20west&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2813&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Evan Vucci</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Brand partnerships between seemingly disparate companies or organizations are all around us.</p>
<p>Clothing retailer H&M <a href="https://www2.hm.com/en_us/life/culture/inside-h-m/co-exist-peta-approved.html">partnered with animal rights group PETA</a> in 2021 to launch a vegan fashion collection. <a href="https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/worldcup/goal-of-the-century">FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, and automaker Hyundai agreed</a> in 2022 to run a global campaign that uses soccer to promote sustainability. Meditation app <a href="https://media.wholefoodsmarket.com/whole-foods-market-and-headspace-team-up/">Headspace collaborated with Whole Foods Market</a> in 2021 to create a video series on Instagram’s IGTV video app on mindful shopping, cooking and eating.</p>
<p>The idea of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.1050.0153">two brands getting hitched for strategic purposes</a> is a quintessential marketing tactic. When done well, the collaboration helps both partners grow their brands and amplify a shared message, such as the idea of animal-friendly clothing in the case of H&M and PETA. </p>
<p>But just like any marriage, it doesn’t always go well.</p>
<p>Recent examples of this are breakups between fashion line Yeezy – owned by rapper and artist Ye, formerly known as Kanye West – and clothing retailers Gap and Adidas. Ye said on Sept. 15, 2022, that he <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2022/09/15/kanye-west-gap-partnership-done-ends-terminated/">ended his company’s partnership</a> with Gap because the company had “abandoned its contractual obligations.” The New York Times reported that the cited reasons were that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/business/kanye-west-yeezy-gap.html">Gap had failed to sell Yeezy products</a> in its namesake stores and had not opened new stores specifically to sell them. </p>
<p>Adidas <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/25/adidas-terminates-partnership-with-ye-following-rappers-antisemitic-remarks.html">broke off its partnership</a> with Yeezy over Ye’s recent antisemitic remarks.</p>
<p>I’m an <a href="https://www.ou.edu/price/marketing_supplychainmanagement/people/pankhuri-malhotra">assistant professor of marketing</a> who studies <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7RZwe9cAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">user behavior on social media in the context of brand partnerships</a>. Research shows forming <a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2013.0806">partnerships can be valuable for some – but they can also be perilous for others</a>. My recent work on partnerships shows a handy method that companies can use for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221083668">finding potential collaborators</a>, by analyzing who follows them on Twitter and other social media.</p>
<h2>Why companies form branding partnerships?</h2>
<p>Brand collaborations are strategic partnerships between two or more brands to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221083668">boost awareness and increase sales</a> by tapping into the partner’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299305700203">existing customers</a>. </p>
<p>This whole idea of companies pooling their resources to boost their own unique value is the epitome of a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20110704">win-win situation</a> – at least in most situations.</p>
<p>Research shows that these types of marketing alliances have a variety of potential benefits, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.73.5">increasing a company’s value</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1060.0642">bottom line gains</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1060.0642">access to new products</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299706100403">skills</a>.</p>
<p>For brand marriages to truly work, both partners need to get something out of the relationship. </p>
<p>For example, in 2015, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nomiprins/2015/05/19/the-spotify-starbucks-partnership-is-digital-co-branding-genius/?sh=117b10e4a7ae">Starbucks began a collaboration</a> with music streaming service Spotify. Starbucks aimed to <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2015/starbucks-spotify-partnership">add more customers</a> to its loyalty program by adding a Spotify tab to its smartphone app. And Spotify users were able to earn “stars” for free coffee products if they paid for a premium membership. </p>
<p>Both Starbucks and Spotify <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nomiprins/2015/05/19/the-spotify-starbucks-partnership-is-digital-co-branding-genius/?sh=15475f014a7a">had something to gain</a> from their partnership.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sign for Adidas and Yeezy sits behind some shoes of various colors" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492637/original/file-20221031-20-is448u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492637/original/file-20221031-20-is448u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492637/original/file-20221031-20-is448u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492637/original/file-20221031-20-is448u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492637/original/file-20221031-20-is448u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492637/original/file-20221031-20-is448u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492637/original/file-20221031-20-is448u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adidas said it will take approximately a $250 million hit by ending its partnership with Yeezy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/YeAdidas/074b178f0f324232a7be8686823f2c08/photo?Query=Kanye%20west%20adidas&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=50&currentItemNo=3">AP Photo/Seth Wenig</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shared values</h2>
<p>But sometimes breakups are bound to happen.</p>
<p>Adidas, for instance, <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/10/25/adidas-cut-ties-kanye-west-after-rapper-anti-semitic-remarks">severed its partnership deal</a> with Ye after the controversial artist <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/10/27/antisemitism-kanye-trump-adidas-jews/">made a series of offensive and antisemitic comments</a> in early October 2022. On Oct. 25, <a href="https://www.adidas-group.com/en/media/news-archive/press-releases/2022/adidas-terminates-partnership-ye-immediately/">Adidas said that Ye’s comments</a> were “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”</p>
<p>The partnership failed – with Adidas even swallowing a loss of about US$250 million – because their values didn’t align. </p>
<p>That reveals another lesson from academic research on the topic: Partnerships work out best when partners share the same values or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2013.0806">similar brand image</a>, which refers to the way consumers perceive the company. When partner brands’ images are not aligned, consumers are more likely to question why the two companies are collaborating – and this can generate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/002224379803500105">negative views</a> toward the alliance. </p>
<p>A classic example of how inconsistent values can lead to a parting of the ways was the brand partnership between <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/lego-to-end-shell-collaboration-after-greenpeace-campaign-1412845373">Dutch oil company Shell and Danish toy company Lego</a>.</p>
<p>Since the 1960s, Lego has sold toys branded with the Shell logo, such as gas stations and race cars. In exchange, Shell helped distribute Lego products around the world and sold them at service stations in more than 25 countries. The partnership <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/09/lego-ends-shell-partnership-following-greenpeace-campaign">was valued at about $78 million</a> in today’s dollars.</p>
<p>But their brand images weren’t well aligned. Lego, with its colorful bricks for kids, has the <a href="https://www.thebrandingjournal.com/2014/10/lego-end-partnership-shell-current-contract-ends/">image of a “friendly toymaker</a>,” while Shell is an oil giant with complicated associations with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/28/shell-ceases-alaska-arctic-drilling-exploratory-well-oil-gas-disappoints">drilling in the Arctic</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/25/africa/shell-oil-spills-nigeria-intl-cmd/index.html">oil spills</a>. </p>
<p>That’s why Greenpeace launched a petition in 2014 calling on Lego to end its partnership with Shell, which the environmental group said was operating recklessly by exploring for oil in the Arctic. Greenpeace said it had collected a million signatures when Lego announced in October that year that it would not renew the contract it had with Shell. The <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/220234-lego-to-cut-ties-with-shell-after-greenpeace-campaign">partnership formally ended in 2016</a>, when the contract expired. </p>
<h2>Social media followings can offer partnership clues</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221083668">My own research focuses</a> more on social media and the role it can play in helping companies determine who might make a good partner. </p>
<p>Several colleagues and I found that when two brands have a lot of shared followers on Twitter or Facebook – especially when they don’t also share them with many other companies – it suggests there might be a natural alignment between them, thus making them good candidates for a partnership. And a separate study found that a company’s base of Twitter followers represents the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.14.0643">tastes and likes of its audience</a>; thus, more shared followers between two brands suggests they also have similar likes. </p>
<p>It’s one way companies looking for a partner can avoid going to bed with another business that doesn’t share its values or brand image. </p>
<p>For example, as you might expect, Shell and Lego don’t have a lot of followers in common. Spotify and Starbucks, however, do, which is why their partnership is going strong and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nomiprins/2015/05/19/the-spotify-starbucks-partnership-is-digital-co-branding-genius/?sh=15475f014a7a">benefiting both companies</a>. They had 299,000 followers in common when we did our analysis in 2020. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nomiprins/2015/05/19/the-spotify-starbucks-partnership-is-digital-co-branding-genius/?sh=117b10e4a7ae">The partnership is also an example</a> of how having common followers could suggest the companies’ customers have complementary consumption patterns, since <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2015.0968">most people follow a brand because they like its products</a>.</p>
<p>Similarly, a significant share of Starbucks followers also follow beer maker Guinness – about 16% as of 2020 – so it wasn’t a surprise to my colleagues and me that they collaborated in 2016 on a product together: <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2016/05/31/news/companies/starbucks-nitro-cold-brew-coffee/index.html">nitro brew coffee</a>. Another example of a partnership made in social media heaven is the deal between <a href="https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0169486EN/louis-vuitton-creates-tailor-made-luggage-for-the-bmw-i8-forward-looking-travel-bags-for-progressive-driving-made-from-carbon-fibre?language=en">car manufacturer BMW and fashion company Louis Vuitton</a>, who shared over 225,000 followers on Twitter in 2020. In 2014, they created a line of luxury luggage for business travelers. </p>
<p>We don’t know if companies like Starbucks or BMW used social media to determine those tie-ups, but in a recent paper, <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/00222429221083668">we suggest it’s a smart way</a> to find a partner that shares values. </p>
<p>Just like with a marriage, the consequences of forming a bad match can be costly, as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-09-23/the-kanye-west-gap-breakup-will-be-very-tough-on-adidas">Adidas is learning</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191975/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pankhuri Malhotra does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While corporate partnerships can be ‘win-win’ arrangements, sometimes they don’t work out – especially when values don’t align.Pankhuri Malhotra, Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of OklahomaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1898262022-09-02T12:18:33Z2022-09-02T12:18:33ZAmerica is in the middle of a labor mobilization moment – with self-organizers at Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe’s and Chipotle behind the union drive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482372/original/file-20220901-27-7ytxub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3988%2C2365&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A revised movement on the backs of young workers?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/union-leaders-gather-in-front-of-the-ldj-5-amazon-warehouse-news-photo/1241255197?adppopup=true">Calla Kessler for The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Labor Day 2022 comes smack bang in the middle of what is increasingly looking like a pivotal year in the history of American unions.</p>
<p>The summer has seen a steady stream of workforce mobilizations. Employees at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/28/trader-joes-union-employees-massachusetts">Trader Joe’s locations in Massachusetts</a> <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/national-news/2022/08/15/trader-joes-unions-could-signal-the-future-of-grocery-store-organizing-food-writer-says">and Minneapolis</a> both voted to unionize. Meanwhile, restaurant chain Chipotle saw the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/25/chipotle-union-victory-fastfood-michigan/">first of its stores unionize</a>, following a vote by workers at an outlet in Lansing, Michigan.</p>
<p>It comes on the back of a wave of successful efforts to mobilize at Starbucks and Amazon. The growth of unionized stores at Starbucks in particular has been stunning. Since baristas <a href="https://apnews.com/article/starbucks-union-vote-buffalo-c7dc3c2ec8b838e9f4ed641f54fc9035">in Buffalo, New York, became the first at the chain to unionize</a> in December 2021, colleagues at a further 234 outlets have followed suit in recent months.</p>
<p>Likewise, the success of an independent <a href="https://www.amazonlaborunion.org/">Amazon Labor Union</a> – <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/01/chris-smalls-amazon-union/">formed in 2020 by Chris Smalls</a>, an <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/02/1090353185/amazon-union-chris-smalls-organizer-staten-island">Amazon worker fired</a> for protesting what he saw as inadequate COVID-19 safety precautions – in forming the <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23005336/amazon-union-new-york-warehouse">first plant of the retail giant to have a unionized workforce</a> has inspired others to do likewise.</p>
<p>It comes as polling shows that public support of unions is at its <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/398303/approval-labor-unions-highest-point-1965.aspx?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosmarkets&stream=business">highest since 1965</a>, with the backing of 71% of Americans. Something is definitely happening in the labor movement in 2022.</p>
<h2>A different kind of organizing</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://cob.sfsu.edu/directory/john-logan">scholar of the labor movement</a> who has observed union drives for two decades, what I find almost as striking as the victories is the unconventional nature of the organizing campaigns. </p>
<p>Workers at Amazon and Trader Joe’s are setting up independent unions, whereas at Starbucks and Chipotle, employees are teaming up with established unions. But that difference apart, the dynamics at play are remarkably similar: The campaigns are being led by <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/generational-worker-revolt-hits-its-stride-amazon-union/">determined young workers</a>. For the most part, it is bottom-up unionizing, rather than being driven by official, seasoned union representatives.</p>
<p>Inspired by pro-union sentiment in political movements, such as <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/workplace-democracy/">Bernie Sanders’ presidential bids</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/10/black-lives-matter-labor-unions-factory-workers-unite">Black Lives Matter</a> and the <a href="https://labor.dsausa.org/">Democratic Socialists of America</a>, individuals are spearheading the efforts for workplace reform rather than professional union organizers. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to find many experienced organizers among the recent successful campaigns. </p>
<p>Instead, the campaigns have involved a significant degree of “self-organization” – that is, workers “talking union” to each other in the warehouse and coffee shops and reaching out to colleagues in other shops in the same city and across the nation. <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801457227/building-more-effective-unions/#bookTabs=1">This marks a sea change</a> from the way the labor movement has traditionally operated, which has tended to be more centralized and led by seasoned union officials. </p>
<h2>A labor revival</h2>
<p>Perhaps more important than the victories at Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe’s and Chipotle themselves is their potential for creating a sense of optimism and enthusiasm around union organizing, especially among younger workers. </p>
<p>The elections follow <a href="https://psmag.com/economics/what-caused-the-decline-of-unions-in-america">years of union decline in the U.S.</a>, both in terms of membership and influence.</p>
<p>Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, these recent labor wins would probably have seemed unimaginable. Powerful, wealthy <a href="https://www.engadget.com/amazon-spent-43-million-on-anti-union-consultants-in-2021-alone-082051777.html">corporations like Amazon</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/23/starbucks-aggressive-anti-union-effort-new-york-stores-organize">and Starbucks</a> appeared invincible then, at least in the context of <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/">National Labor Relations Board</a> rules, which are stacked heavily <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/unprecedented-the-trump-nlrbs-attack-on-workers-rights/">against pro-union workers</a>. Under NLRB rules, employers can – and do – force workers, on the threat of dismissal, to attend <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/23/starbucks-aggressive-anti-union-effort-new-york-stores-organize">anti-union sessions</a>, often led by <a href="https://www.engadget.com/amazon-spent-43-million-on-anti-union-consultants-in-2021-alone-082051777.html">highly paid external consultants</a>.</p>
<p>Starbucks <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-15/starbucks-retaliated-against-pro-union-staff-nlrb-alleges">has said it has been</a> “consistent in denying any claims of anti-union activity. They are categorically false.” But the NLRB has alleged that the coffee chain <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/nlrb-region-15-wins-injunction-requiring-starbucks-to-rehire-seven">has fired and coerced workers</a>, placed union supporters <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/06/starbucks-accused-of-more-than-200-labor-violations-in-nlrb-complaint.html">under surveillance and retaliated</a> against them.</p>
<p>The NLRB has also <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/labor-board-files-complaint-against-starbucks-for-withholding-raises-from-unionized-stores">filed a complaint against Starbucks</a> for unlawfully withholding wage and benefit increases from pro-union workers, and currently has almost 300 open unfair labor practices charges lodged against Starbucks management. Amazon, which in the past <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/01/amazon-seeks-intelligence-analyst-to-track-labor-organizing-threats.html">has advertised for analysts to monitor “labor organizing threats</a>,” has said it <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/24/how-amazon-prevents-unions-by-surveilling-employee-activism.html">respects workers’ rights to join or not join unions</a>.</p>
<p>The significance of the recent victories is not primarily about the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/01/1089318684/amazon-labor-union-staten-island-election-bessemer-alabama-warehouse-workers">8,000 new union members</a> at Amazon or a gradual flow of new union members at Starbucks. It is about instilling in workers the belief that if pro-union workers can win at Amazon and Starbucks, they can win anywhere.</p>
<p>Historic precedents show that labor mobilization can be infectious.</p>
<p>In 1936 and 1937, workers at the Flint plant of General Motors <a href="https://www.history.com/news/flint-sit-down-strike-general-motors-uaw">brought the powerful automaker to its knees</a> in a sit-down strike that <a href="https://labornotes.org/2009/07/once-started-sit-downs-spread-wildfire">quickly inspired similar action</a> elsewhere. In the reported words of a Chicago doctor, when explaining a subsequent sit-down strike by wet nurses in the city: “It’s just one of those funny things. They want to strike because everyone else is doing it.”</p>
<h2>Seizing the moment</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/10/17/1046850192/the-pandemic-could-be-leading-to-a-golden-age-for-unions">pandemic has created an opportunity for unions</a>.</p>
<p>After working on the front lines for over two years, many essential workers such as those at Amazon and Trader Joe’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/26/starbuck-employees-intense-work-customer-abuse-understaffing">believe they have not been adequately rewarded</a> for their service during the pandemic and have not been treated with respect by their employers. </p>
<p>This appears to have helped spur <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/generational-worker-revolt-hits-its-stride-amazon-union/">the popularity</a> of smaller, workplace-specific unions.</p>
<p>The homegrown nature of these campaigns deprives chains of employing a decades-old trope at the heart of corporate anti-union campaigns: that a <a href="https://one.starbucks.com/">union is an external “third party</a>” that doesn’t understand or care about the concerns of employees and is more interested in collecting dues.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A pro-union poster is seen on a lamp pole says 'union busting is disgusting' over a Starbucks logo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Attempts to disparage outside unionizers are blunted when drives are led by company workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pro-union-poster-is-seen-on-a-lamp-pole-outside-starbucks-news-photo/1239452047?adppopup=true">Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But those arguments mostly ring hollow <a href="https://labornotes.org/2022/04/amazon-workers-staten-island-clinch-historic-victory?fbclid=IwAR1pwcYb45xVPpvkuWV0JmkHb_1jwEwkUIwF56-aJFsT2B9O_AahdQj8Kdk">when the people doing the unionizing</a> are colleagues they work alongside day in and day out.</p>
<p>It has the effect of nullifying that central argument of anti-union campaigns despite the <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/unlawful-employer-opposition-to-union-election-campaigns/">many millions of dollars</a> that companies often pumped into them.</p>
<h2>An unfavorable legal landscape</h2>
<p>This “self-organization” is consistent with what was envisioned by the authors of the <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/who-we-are/our-history/1935-passage-of-the-wagner-act">1935 Wagner Act</a>, the statute that provides the foundation of today’s union representation procedures. </p>
<p>The National Labor Relations Board’s first chair, J. Warren Madden, understood that self-organization could be fatally undermined if corporations were allowed to engage in anti-union pressure tactics: </p>
<p>“Upon this fundamental principle – that an employer shall keep his hands off the self-organization of employees – the entire structure of the act rests,” <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1631&context=sulr">he wrote</a>.“ Any compromise or weakening of that principle strikes at the root of the law.” </p>
<p>Over the past half century, anti-union corporations and their consultants and law firms – assisted by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-labor-nlrb/unions-brace-for-big-changes-under-republican-led-u-s-labor-board-idUSKBN1HI328">Republican-controlled NLRBs</a> and right-wing judges – have <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-greenhouse-janus-supreme-court-20180627-story.html">undermined that process</a> of worker self-organization by enabling union elections to become employer-dominated.</p>
<p>But for the long-term decline in union membership to be reversed, I believe pro-union workers will need stronger protections. Labor law reform is essential if the <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0019793918806250">almost 50% of nonunion American workers</a> who say they want union representation are to have any chance of getting it. </p>
<h2>Dispelling fear, futility and apathy</h2>
<p>Lack of popular interest <a href="https://www.filesforprogress.org/memos/worker-power.pdf">has long been an obstacle</a> to labor law reform. </p>
<p>Meaningful labor law reform is unlikely to happen unless people are engaged with the issues, understand them and believe they have a stake in the outcome.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://theconversation.com/union-battles-at-amazon-and-starbucks-are-hot-news-which-can-only-be-good-for-the-labor-movement-172932">media interest in the campaigns at Starbucks and Amazon</a> suggests the American public may finally be paying attention.</p>
<p>It isn’t known where this latest labor movement – or moment – will lead. It could evaporate or it may just spark a wave of organizing across the low-wage service sector, stimulating a national debate over workers’ rights in the process. </p>
<p>The biggest weapons that anti-union corporations have in suppressing labor momentum are the fear of retaliation and a sense that unionization is futile. The recent successes show unionizing no longer seems so frightening or so futile. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-starbucks-and-the-sparking-of-a-new-american-union-movement-180293">an article originally published</a> on April 4, 2022.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Public support for unions is at a near 60-year high. Meanwhile, self-organizers at major American chains are spearheading a new movement to mobilize.John Logan, Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies, San Francisco State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1842202022-06-13T12:30:53Z2022-06-13T12:30:53ZGrassroots mojo and 4 other reasons Starbucks workers have been so successful unionizing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468112/original/file-20220609-18254-f625u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=174%2C73%2C2407%2C1730&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Activist workers have successfully formed unions at 135 Starbucks since they began organizing in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Starbucks-UnionBargaining/2b75bc1e5fac4d7eadb804c15eff7c99/photo?Query=starbucks&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2636&currentItemNo=6">AP Photo/Carolyn Thompson</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Starbucks Workers United <a href="https://komonews.com/news/local/two-more-seattle-starbucks-stores-vote-to-unionize-100-so-far-throughout-us">won its 100th election on May 27, 2022</a> – fittingly, in Seattle, the company’s hometown. And the union has <a href="https://perfectunion.us/map-where-are-starbucks-workers-unionizing/">notched another 46 victories</a> in the just over two weeks since then. It comes six months after organizers won their <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/12/09/1062150045/starbucks-first-union-buffalo-new-york">first two union victories</a>, in Buffalo, New. York.</p>
<p>Although each unionized workplace is small, with a couple dozen employees apiece, the campaign is already, by my reckoning, one of the most successful unionizing efforts in recent U.S. history, with victories in 28 states. Over 100 additional Starbucks outlets have petitioned to unionize and are awaiting elections in the coming days and weeks, and several other votes are awaiting resolution. Starbucks <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/20/starbucks-files-nlrb-complaints-against-baristas-union.html">has strongly opposed the campaign</a>, and the union has lost about 22 elections so far.</p>
<p>The overwhelming success of the Starbucks labor organizing efforts <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-05-12/starbucks-workers-inspire-amazon-union-show-labor-s-power?sref=Hjm5biAW">is inspiring workers at other retailers</a>, such as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/06/1091130929/chris-smalls-amazon-union-50-warehouses">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/rei-workers-in-soho-voted-to-form-companys-first-union-organizers-say">REI</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61145127">Apple</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/business/economy/trader-joes-union.html">Trader Joe’s</a>, which have all seen an increase in organizing activity or even their first unions.</p>
<p>When the Starbucks unionizing movement was in its infancy, <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23056599/starbucks-amazon-union-membership-growth">few observers believed</a> that the campaign <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-12-13/union-victory-starbucks-labor">could spread so quickly</a> or win so many elections, <a href="https://perfectunion.us/map-where-are-starbucks-workers-unionizing/">often by huge margins</a>. Indeed, a few years ago, most union officials would have thought it impossible to organize a young and often transient low-wage service sector workforce spread across <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/218360/number-of-starbucks-stores-in-the-us/">almost 9,000 small stores</a>. And most union drives in recent decades, such as at <a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/our-walmart-union-ufcw-black-friday">Walmart</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/14/fedex-anti-union-campaign-teamsters">FedEx</a>, have failed. </p>
<p>So why has the Starbucks campaign been so much more successful?</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://cob.sfsu.edu/directory/john-logan">scholar who has studied</a> corporate opposition to unions for 20 years, I believe there are five key reasons.</p>
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<h2>1. Shift in sentiment</h2>
<p>The Starbucks campaign would, I believe, likely not have been successful three years ago, before the pandemic hit. </p>
<p>After March 2020, service workers faced increasingly difficult, stressful and dangerous workplace conditions. For example, they were often <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/no-mask-no-service-rules-leave-workers-open-to-customer-abuse">tasked with enforcing mask and vaccine mandates</a> and dealing with unruly customers who refused to comply. And their jobs on the front lines <a href="https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/OSHA3993.pdf">put them at greater risk</a> of contracting COVID-19. At the same time, surveys showed many workers didn’t think their employers <a href="https://theconversation.com/bad-managers-burnout-and-health-fears-why-record-numbers-of-hospitality-workers-are-quitting-the-industry-for-good-174588">were treating them with respect</a> or <a href="https://www.umass.edu/employmentequity/stressed-unsafe-and-insecure-essential-workers-need-new-new-deal">providing adequate safety equipment</a>.</p>
<p>As a result, record numbers of workers – especially in the service sector – <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/JTSQUR">began quitting their jobs</a> in mid-2021 in what became known as the “great resignation.” The labor shortages created more pressure on overworked employees, and the <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/hidden-reason-for-starbucks-worker-organizing/">huge rise in mobile app orders</a> compounded the workplace stress for Starbucks baristas. </p>
<p>These workers that didn’t quit their jobs, however, became more emboldened and seized an opportunity to get organized. Today, support for unions in the U.S. <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/354455/approval-labor-unions-highest-point-1965.aspx">is at its highest since 1965</a>, at 68%.</p>
<h2>2. A role model</h2>
<p>Starbucks Workers United’s strategy involved unionizing one store at a time by using a <a href="https://tcf.org/content/commentary/worker-to-worker-organizing-may-finally-have-its-moment/">worker-driven model</a> that could be replicated easily and quickly. </p>
<p>At the start of the campaign in December 2021, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/14/starbucks-tells-nlrb-to-let-all-buffalo-workers-vote-on-union-effort.html">Starbucks management tried</a>, and <a href="https://www.wivb.com/news/local-news/national-labor-board-buffalo-starbucks-workers-can-form-union-by-store/">failed</a>, to require the union to win a majority of all Starbucks workers in Buffalo – not just those at individual stores. It’s likely pro-union workers <a href="https://btlaw.com/insights/blogs/labor-relations/2022/caffeine-rush-union-organizing-wave-at-starbucks-continues">would have lost such an election</a>, but the National Labor Relations Board <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/business/economy/starbucks-union-vote-mesa.html">rejected Starbucks’ arguments</a>.</p>
<p>This allowed workers to organize each store one at time and develop a replicable model, enabling it to spread rapidly. In fact, when commentators describe the campaign as <a href="https://www.wnylabortoday.com/news/2022/02/03/national-labor-news/it-s-spreading-like-wildfire-after-the-movement-successfully-started-in-buffalo-in-late-2021-unionizing-efforts-at-starbucks-has-now-reached-60-stores-in-19-states/">spreading “like wildfire”</a> or <a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/amazon-starbucks-workers-organizing-unions-momentum-movement-moment">similar terms</a>, it obscures the innovative and <a href="https://jacobin.com/2022/05/amazon-starbucks-labor-union-busting-nlrb">deliberate process</a> that has been behind its remarkable success.</p>
<p>Workers typically find out about the campaign through traditional or social media, and then reach out to organizers behind the campaign. They then have a Zoom meeting with a worker-organizer at a union store who explains how to print cards, how to discuss signing up for the union with co-workers, how to write a letter to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz requesting union recognition, and how to petition the NLRB for an election. This pattern has been repeated multiple times throughout the country, even in places in which <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/starbucks-workers-united-wins-in-uss-most-anti-union-city">private-sector unions are rare</a>. </p>
<p>There is no obvious reason why a similar model <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2022/0518/Amazon-Starbucks-and-beyond-Young-workers-fuel-union-drives">could not work</a> at other nonunionized companies with young, progressive workforces, such as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/business/economy/trader-joes-union.html#:%7E:text=In%20a%20sign%20that%20service,filed%20for%20a%20union%20election.">Trader Joe’s</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/02/18/apple-retail-stores-union-labor/">Apple</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2022/03/03/first-starbucks-now-rei-next-amazon-and-apple-the-movement-to-unionize-retail-workers-picks-up/?sh=126d702410ad">REI</a>. Indeed, Trader Joe’s employees at a Massachusetts store just filed to create the company’s first union, and REI employees in Manhattan voted to form the company’s first unionized store in March 2022.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of diverse workers mostly standing and wearing black Memphis 7 t-shirts celebrate victory" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467852/original/file-20220608-313-x07fbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=265%2C60%2C3760%2C2957&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467852/original/file-20220608-313-x07fbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467852/original/file-20220608-313-x07fbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467852/original/file-20220608-313-x07fbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467852/original/file-20220608-313-x07fbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467852/original/file-20220608-313-x07fbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467852/original/file-20220608-313-x07fbz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A group of fired Starbucks employees celebrate the result of a vote to unionize one of the coffee company’s locations on June 7, 2022, in Memphis, Tenn. Starbucks says the ex-employees were fired for violating company policies, but the so-called Memphis Seven say they were let go in retaliation for unionization efforts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Starbucks-Union/72f34bea87f24b39a3ba0a237e28cad3/photo?Query=starbucks&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2629&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Adrian Sainz</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>3. Starbucks’ progressive rep</h2>
<p>Another factor that helped Starbucks pro-union workers is the retailer’s <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90732166/what-happened-to-starbucks-how-a-progressive-company-lost-its-way">self-proclaimed progressive reputation</a>, as shown through its <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2022/starbucks-pride-a-long-legacy-of-lgbtq-inclusion/">public support for issues such as LBGTQ rights</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/business/starbucks-blm-ban-reversed.html">racial justice</a>.</p>
<p>Naturally, this has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/business/college-workers-starbucks-amazon-unions.html">attracted workers</a> who tend to be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/business/college-workers-starbucks-amazon-unions.html">young, college-educated</a>, <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/hidden-reason-for-starbucks-worker-organizing/">more progressive</a> and thus more inclined to support a union. The flipside of Starbucks’ ostensible progressivism is that its <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/04/27/business/baristas-view-inside-starbucks-alleged-antiunion-campaign">efforts to prevent workers</a> from <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/05/starbucks-union-busting-tactics.html">forming unions</a> are seen by some employees as hypocritical.</p>
<p>In addition, Starbucks’ tendency to speak out on progressive issues has increased <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/03/14/starbucks-partners-continue-to-find-success-in-union-efforts">media attention</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/28/business/college-workers-starbucks-amazon-unions.html">surrounding workers’ efforts to organize</a> and Starbucks’ <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/21/starbucks-union-battle-pushes-wall-street-away.html">reaction to them</a>. This has helped the campaign spread a lot faster and farther, encouraging like-minded baristas elsewhere to join. </p>
<h2>4. Fellowship of the baristas</h2>
<p>The campaign has also benefited from the strong sense of community that <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90732166/what-happened-to-starbucks-how-a-progressive-company-lost-its-way">already existed among Starbucks’ young staff</a>.</p>
<p>Starbucks has <a href="https://www.nutcache.com/blog/how-starbucks-teamwork-and-partnership-culture-can-inspire-your-employees/">long fostered a sense of camaraderie</a> between its workers. For example, it calls them “partners,” implying they aren’t just casual employees but play a meaningful role in the company. Lawyers and hedge funds use the term partners to refer to employees <a href="https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/law-firm-partner-vs-associate">who have an ownership stake</a>. </p>
<p>Although workers said they often felt like <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/hidden-reason-for-starbucks-worker-organizing">they weren’t treated as such</a>, this helped create a close-knit community at individual workplaces. That’s why most of the union votes <a href="https://perfectunion.us/map-where-are-starbucks-workers-unionizing/">were either overwhelming or unanimous</a>. In the words of the union, the campaign is about “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcD5pzOXj2c">partners becoming partners</a>.” </p>
<h2>5. Grassroots mojo</h2>
<p>Unlike <a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/which-way-our-walmart">labor union drives of the past</a>, which have been <a href="https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/29/fortress-unionism/">more typically directed</a> by national or regional leaders, Starbucks workers have driven the unionizing campaign largely on their own. This decentralized, grassroots dynamism is what has allowed the unionizing campaign to spread so widely and so quickly. </p>
<p>The old way of organizing was dependent on union organizers approaching workers at each location, making it <a href="https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/29/fortress-unionism">slower and much more cumbersome</a>. Some labor leaders are now more <a href="https://tcf.org/content/commentary/worker-to-worker-organizing-may-finally-have-its-moment/?agreed=1">ready to embrace organizing at a more grassroots</a>, worker-to-worker level. </p>
<p>When workers take the lead, it means you’re more likely to have local buy-in – the organizers are inside the workplace and known and trusted by their co-workers – and doesn’t require them to wait for other union leaders to recognize interest in forming a union. And in this way, the activist workers don’t simply feel like they are part of a union but <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/12/business/economy/amazon-starbucks-union.html">they themselves are the union</a>.</p>
<p>For these reasons, I believe there is every chance that eventually a majority of Starbucks stores will become unionized. And if the Starbucks model continues to be successful, it could encourage workers at other companies to <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-05-23/starbucks-amazon-apple-union-campaigns-history">adopt the same playbook</a>. In fact, we may be on the cusp of a union revival like American workers haven’t seen in almost a century.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184220/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Starbucks Workers United has already organized 146 locations in about six months. While that’s a fraction of Starbucks’ 9,000 US stores, it’s one of the most successful labor campaigns in decades.John Logan, Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies, San Francisco State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1825492022-05-10T12:04:18Z2022-05-10T12:04:18ZStarbucks’ caffeinated anti-union efforts may leave a bitter taste – but are they legal?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461638/original/file-20220505-1367-ilvqwc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=52%2C0%2C5808%2C3860&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A long-brewing dispute?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-hold-signs-while-protesting-in-front-of-starbucks-on-news-photo/1391508710?adppopup=true">Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Good news greeted Starbucks workers on May 3, 2022, in the shape of a promise of new pay increases. But there was a catch: Employees at unionized stores – or those planning to unionize – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/03/business/economy/starbucks-howard-schultz-union-pay.html">shouldn’t expect to see a dime</a> of this hike.</p>
<p>As far as efforts to discourage workers from supporting union drives go, the move by Starbucks appears pretty blatant. And it comes as the coffee chain sees a <a href="https://perfectunion.us/map-where-are-starbucks-workers-unionizing/">massive surge of union activity</a>.</p>
<p>Since its first victory at two stores in Buffalo in December 2021, Starbucks Workers United has now filed for union elections <a href="https://abc7ny.com/starbucks-union-labor-workers-united/11825879/#:%7E:text=As%20of%20this%20week%2C%20workers,the%20Service%20Employees%20International%20Union.">at over 250 stores</a> – comprising over 6,600 employees – in over 30 states, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Moreover, the union has won 54 of the 64 elections conducted to date, many by overwhelming margins. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://cob.sfsu.edu/directory/john-logan">scholar of organized labor</a>, I find the growth of the union movement at Starbucks remarkable. But it has also prompted what I would characterize as a remarkably aggressive stance against unions among executives at the coffee chain. Starbucks management appears intent on halting unionizing momentum among employees – even if that means risking sanction from the federal watchdog. Indeed, on May 6, a regional director of the NLRB <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/starbucks-firings-threats-store-closures-labor-board_n_6275802ce4b009a811c39513">issued a complaint against the coffee chain</a> over prior instances of anti-union tactics that the labor official deemed to have strayed across the line of what is legal.</p>
<h2>Anti-union or pro-Starbucks?</h2>
<p>In announcing the promised pay raise to nonunionized workers, Howard Schultz, who returned to Starbucks as interim CEO in March 2022, suggested that federal law prohibits Starbucks “from promising new wages and benefits at stores involved in union organizing.” Union representatives counter that nothing in law stops Starbucks from offering such benefits to workers at unionized stores.</p>
<p>Moreover, they say that threatening to withhold wage increases amounts to an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/03/business/economy/starbucks-howard-schultz-union-pay.html">illegal attempt to coerce workers</a> and have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/02/starbucks-union-files-nlrb-complaint-citing-ceo-schultzs-benefits-comments.html">filed a formal complaint</a> with the NLRB.</p>
<p>It is not the first time Schultz, who says he is not “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/09/starbucks-ceo-howard-schultz-has-history-of-opposing-unions.html">anti-union” but “pro-Starbucks</a>,” has picked a fight with workers looking to unionize. In April, he told workers at a public forum that if they are unhappy working at Starbucks, they <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/04/11/starbucks-ceo-lashes-out-at-unionizing-baristas/">should seek employment elsewhere</a> and claimed that American corporations nationwide are “under assault” by unions.</p>
<p>The CEO also blamed organizing at Starbucks stores on “<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/starbucks-union-fight-intensifies-under-ceo-howard-schultz-11651483981">so-called workers” and an “outside force</a>” – comments that appear at odds with the reality of what is going on at his stores. A quirk of the recent spate of unionizing efforts at Starbucks is that it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-starbucks-and-the-sparking-of-a-new-american-union-movement-180293">worker-driven</a>, in that it is young employees spearheading the drive and spreading the word to other stores.</p>
<p>This grassroots approach is nullifying many of the traditional anti-union tactics. Not only does it counter the claim that unionizing is being forced on workers from outsiders who may not have their best interests in mind, it also makes it harder for anti-union messages to go unchallenged. For example, <a href="https://cwad1.org/banning-captive-audience-meetings#:%7E:text=Captive%20audience%20meetings%20are%20mandatory,materials%20like%20videos%20and%20flyers.">group captive audience meetings</a> – in which employees are mandated to attend sessions at which they are urged not to join a union – have proved less effective in part because pro-union workers have ensured that at least one activist is present to counter what is being said. And I have been told by organizers that at several Starbucks stores, workers have made a <a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/starbucks-organizing-union-labor-coffee-historic-campaign">collective decision to refuse to attend</a> such meetings.</p>
<h2>Reputational risk</h2>
<p>In the face of diminishing returns for traditional efforts to persuade workers against unionizing, Starbucks appears to be upping the intensity. But going to war with its pro-union workers involves significant reputation risk for Starbucks – something the company itself has seemingly acknowledged. In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company <a href="https://www.levernews.com/starbucks-stunning-admission-about-its-union-busting/">warned investors</a>: “Our responses to any union organizing efforts could negatively impact how our brand is perceived and have adverse effects on our business, including on our financial results.”</p>
<p>Starbucks is already facing uncomfortable headlines over its anti-union practices and the mounting number of complaints that they have prompted.</p>
<p>Since the union campaign started in August 2021, Starbucks Workers United has filed 112 separate unfair labor practices charges against the company, prompting former NLRB chair William Gould <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/starbucks-store-unionizing-surge-tests-cash-strapped-labor-board">to note</a>, “I can’t think of anything that has generated this many cases.” </p>
<p>Then on May 6, 2022, a director for the NLRB’s Buffalo region issued <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/starbucks-firings-threats-store-closures-labor-board_n_6275802ce4b009a811c39513">a sweeping complaint against Starbucks</a>. It covered over 200 instances of what it claims to be unlawful anti-union behavior. They included allegations of terminating, disciplining and surveilling pro-union workers; closing pro-union stores for several months and promising increased benefits to staff who refuse to unionize.</p>
<p>Such NLRB complaints follow an investigation into claims of labor violations and indicate that the board has found merit in the complaints.</p>
<p>To provide relief, the<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/athena/files/2022/05/06/62759426e4b009a811c3ad5f.pdf"> complaint requires Starbucks</a> to put in place what amounts to a laundry list of remedies, including reinstating fired workers, providing training for Starbucks managers on workers’ rights and allowing equal time for unions to address employees.</p>
<p>It also calls on Schultz or Starbucks’ executive vice president Rossann Williams – who ran the anti-union campaign in Buffalo last year – to record themselves reading a notice explaining to staff that they have a right to form a union, and for that recording to be distributed to every store in the U.S.</p>
<p>Starbucks has indicated that it will contest the regional NLRB complaint. In a statement, <a href="https://www.bloomberglaw.com/product/labor/bloomberglawnews/daily-labor-report/BNA%2000000180a525d12ea5cfe767d9100003?bna_news_filter=daily-labor-report">the company said</a>, “We believe the allegations contained in the complaint are false, and we look forward to presenting our evidence.”</p>
<h2>An NLRB with more bite?</h2>
<p>Regardless of what the NLRB complaint says, or what the board rules in regard to the denial of promised pay increases, Starbucks’ apparent efforts to slow union momentum may have some success.</p>
<p>The Starbucks union recently suffered <a href="https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/05/03/breaking-news/effort-to-unionize-first-starbucks-store-in-hawaii-fails/">unexpected losses in Hawaii</a> <a href="https://www.tag24.com/justice/activism/starbucks-union-organizers-see-mixed-results-in-pittsburgh-estero-and-oklahoma-city-2445581">and Florida</a>.</p>
<p>Part of the problem facing worker-organizers is that it can take time to make charges of unfair anti-union practices stick.</p>
<p>The NLRB has for decades been hampered by delays in its processes. It can take months for a ruling to come down, and if a company appeals the board’s decision to a federal court, it can take years – by which time the <a href="https://www.jwj.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/UROCUEDcompressedfullreport.pdf">damage to a union campaign may have already been done</a>. </p>
<p>Labor organizers will be hoping that the recent complaint against Starbucks will portend a decisiveness and desire to move more quickly at the NLRB under the Biden administration.</p>
<p>President Joe Biden likes to tout his pro-union credentials. Indeed, he recently welcomed a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/06/starbucks-criticizes-biden-visit-with-union-leaders-requests-white-house-meeting.html">pro-union Starbucks worker</a> to the White House, prompting the company to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/06/starbucks-criticizes-biden-visit-with-union-leaders-requests-white-house-meeting.html">demand that it get a similar invitation</a>. </p>
<p>But Biden’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/09/08/remarks-by-president-biden-in-honor-of-labor-unions/">credentials as the self-proclaimed</a> “most pro-union president in American history” may hang on how his administration, through the NLRB, is able to crack down on anti-union practices when they cross over the line.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182549/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint over instances of anti-union practices at Starbucks. And that was before the company’s boss threatened to withhold wages.John Logan, Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies, San Francisco State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1802932022-04-04T12:29:42Z2022-04-04T12:29:42ZAmazon, Starbucks and the sparking of a new American union movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456103/original/file-20220404-19-yuez6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C16%2C3594%2C2376&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The start of a movement or a moment?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Amazon-Union-Elections/cc69d97c3a4341ebad070944d2f4bbc8/photo?Query=staten%20island%20amazon&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=118&currentItemNo=4">AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/amazon-starbucks-and-the-sparking-of-a-new-american-union-movement-180293&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more narrated articles <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>April 1, 2022, may go down as a pivotal day in the history of American unions. </p>
<p>In a result that could reverberate in workplaces across the U.S., the independent <a href="https://www.amazonlaborunion.org/">Amazon Labor Union</a> – first <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/01/chris-smalls-amazon-union/">formed in 2020 by Chris Smalls</a>, an <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/02/1090353185/amazon-union-chris-smalls-organizer-staten-island">Amazon worker fired</a> for protesting what he saw as inadequate COVID-19 safety precautions – got the better of the previously successful anti-union efforts of the online retailer. It means that Smalls’ warehouse in Staten Island, New York, will be <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23005336/amazon-union-new-york-warehouse">the first to have a unionized workforce</a>.</p>
<p>On the same day, <a href="https://sbworkersunited.org/">Starbucks Workers United</a> – an organization affiliated with Service Employees International Union – won yet another election, making it <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22993509/starbucks-successful-union-drive">10 out of 11 wins</a> for the union since <a href="https://apnews.com/article/starbucks-union-vote-buffalo-c7dc3c2ec8b838e9f4ed641f54fc9035">first succeeding in Buffalo</a> in December 2021. This time, it was the <a href="https://twitter.com/SBWorkersUnited/status/1510037854306590726/photo/1">chain’s flagship roastery</a> in New York City that opted to unionize. The organizing campaign <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/02/10/nyc-area-starbucks-locations-file-to-unionize-in-national-push/">has now spread</a> to over 170 Starbucks stores nationwide. Several more Starbucks elections will take place in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a re-run election at a Amazon factory in Bessemer, Alabama, will <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/31/1090123017/do-over-union-election-at-amazons-bessemer-warehouse-is-too-close-to-call">depend on the outcome of several hundred contested ballots</a>. Even if Amazon wins, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union has – at very least – came tantalizingly close in what was deemed a long-shot union vote. </p>
<p>Something is definitely happening in the labor movement. </p>
<h2>A different kind of organizing</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://cob.sfsu.edu/directory/john-logan">scholar of the labor movement</a> who has observed union drives for two decades, what I find almost as striking as the victories is the unconventional nature of the organizing campaigns. Both the Starbucks and Amazon-Staten Island campaigns have been led by <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/generational-worker-revolt-hits-its-stride-amazon-union/">determined young workers</a>.</p>
<p>Inspired by pro-union sentiment in political movements, such as <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/workplace-democracy/">Bernie Sanders’ presidential bids</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/10/black-lives-matter-labor-unions-factory-workers-unite">Black Lives Matter</a> and the <a href="https://labor.dsausa.org/">Democratic Socialists of America</a>, these individuals are spearheading the efforts for workplace reform rather than professional union organizers. Indeed, one would be hard pressed to find many experienced organizers among the recent successful campaigns. </p>
<p>Instead, the campaigns have involved a significant degree of “self-organization” – that is, workers “talking union” to each other in the warehouse and coffee shops and reaching out to colleagues in other shops in the same city and across the nation. <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801457227/building-more-effective-unions/#bookTabs=1">This marks a sea change</a> from the way the labor movement has traditionally operated, which has tended to be more centralized and led by seasoned union officials. </p>
<h2>A labor revival</h2>
<p>Perhaps more important than the victories at Starbucks and Amazon themselves are their potential for creating a sense of optimism and enthusiasm around union organizing, especially among younger workers. </p>
<p>The elections follow <a href="https://psmag.com/economics/what-caused-the-decline-of-unions-in-america">years of union decline in the U.S.</a> – both in terms of membership and influence.</p>
<p>Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, these recent labor wins would probably have seemed unimaginable. Powerful, wealthy <a href="https://www.engadget.com/amazon-spent-43-million-on-anti-union-consultants-in-2021-alone-082051777.html">corporations like Amazon</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/23/starbucks-aggressive-anti-union-effort-new-york-stores-organize">and Starbucks</a> appeared invincible then, at least in the context of <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/">National Labor Relations Board</a> rules, which are stacked heavily <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/unprecedented-the-trump-nlrbs-attack-on-workers-rights/">against pro-union workers</a>. Under NLRB rules, Amazon and Starbucks can – and do – force workers, on the threat of dismissal, to attend <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/23/starbucks-aggressive-anti-union-effort-new-york-stores-organize">anti-union sessions</a>, often led by <a href="https://www.engadget.com/amazon-spent-43-million-on-anti-union-consultants-in-2021-alone-082051777.html">highly paid external consultants</a>.</p>
<p>Starbucks <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-15/starbucks-retaliated-against-pro-union-staff-nlrb-alleges">has said it has been</a> “consistent in denying any claims of anti-union activity. They are categorically false.” But in March 2022, the NLRB alleged that the coffee chain had coerced workers, placed union supporters under surveillance and retaliated against them. Similarly Amazon – which has in the past <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/01/amazon-seeks-intelligence-analyst-to-track-labor-organizing-threats.html">advertised for analysts to monitor “labor organizing threats</a>” has said it <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/24/how-amazon-prevents-unions-by-surveilling-employee-activism.html">respects workers’ rights to join or not join unions</a>.</p>
<p>The significance of the recent victories is not primarily about the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/01/1089318684/amazon-labor-union-staten-island-election-bessemer-alabama-warehouse-workers">8,000 new union members</a> at Amazon or a gradual flow of new union members at Starbucks. It is about instilling in workers the belief that if pro-union workers can win at Amazon and Starbucks, they can win anywhere.</p>
<p>Historic precedents show that labor mobilization can be infectious.</p>
<p>In 1936 and 1937, workers at the Flint plant of General Motors <a href="https://www.history.com/news/flint-sit-down-strike-general-motors-uaw">brought the powerful auto-marker to its knees</a> in a sit-down strike that <a href="https://labornotes.org/2009/07/once-started-sit-downs-spread-wildfire">quickly inspired similar action</a> elsewhere. In the reported words of a Chicago doctor, when explaining a subsequent sit-down strike by wet nurses in the city, “It’s just one of those funny things. They want to strike because everyone else is doing it.”</p>
<h2>Seizing the moment</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/10/17/1046850192/the-pandemic-could-be-leading-to-a-golden-age-for-unions">pandemic has created an opportunity for unions</a>.</p>
<p>After working on the front lines for over two years, many essential workers such as those at Amazon and Starbucks <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/26/starbuck-employees-intense-work-customer-abuse-understaffing">believe they have not been adequately rewarded</a> for their service during the pandemic and have not been treated with respect by their employers. </p>
<p>This appears to have helped spur <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/generational-worker-revolt-hits-its-stride-amazon-union/">the popularity</a> of the Amazon Labor Union and Starbucks Workers United.</p>
<p>The homegrown nature of these campaigns deprives Amazon and Starbucks of employing a decades-old trope at the heart of corporate anti-union campaigns: that a <a href="https://one.starbucks.com/">union is an external “third party</a>” that doesn’t understand or care about the concerns of employees and is more interested in collecting dues.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A pro-union poster is seen on a lamp pole says 'union busting is disgusting' over a Starbucks logo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455938/original/file-20220403-23-b2ptyd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Attempts to disparage outside unionizers are blunted when drives are led by company workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pro-union-poster-is-seen-on-a-lamp-pole-outside-starbucks-news-photo/1239452047?adppopup=true">Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But those arguments mostly ring hollow <a href="https://labornotes.org/2022/04/amazon-workers-staten-island-clinch-historic-victory?fbclid=IwAR1pwcYb45xVPpvkuWV0JmkHb_1jwEwkUIwF56-aJFsT2B9O_AahdQj8Kdk">when the people doing the unionizing</a> are colleagues they work alongside day in and day out.</p>
<p>It has the effect of nullifying that central argument of anti-union campaigns despite the <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/unlawful-employer-opposition-to-union-election-campaigns/">many millions of dollars</a> that companies often pumped into them.</p>
<h2>An unfavorable legal landscape</h2>
<p>This “self-organization” at Starbucks and Amazon is consistent with what was envisioned by the authors of the <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/who-we-are/our-history/1935-passage-of-the-wagner-act">1935 Wagner Act</a>, the statute that provides the foundation of today’s union representation procedures. </p>
<p>The National Labor Relations Board’s first chair, J. Warren Madden, understood that self-organization could be fatally undermined if corporations were allowed to engage in anti-union pressure tactics: </p>
<p>“Upon this fundamental principle – that an employer shall keep his hands off the self-organization of employees – the entire structure of the act rests,” <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1631&context=sulr">he wrote</a>.“ Any compromise or weakening of that principle strikes at the root of the law.” </p>
<p>Over the past half century, anti-union corporations and their consultants and law firms – assisted by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-labor-nlrb/unions-brace-for-big-changes-under-republican-led-u-s-labor-board-idUSKBN1HI328">Republican-controlled NLRBs</a> and right-wing judges – have <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-greenhouse-janus-supreme-court-20180627-story.html">undermined that process</a> of worker self-organization by enabling union elections to become employer-dominated.</p>
<p>But for the long-term decline in union membership to be reversed, I believe pro-union workers will need stronger protections. Labor law reform is essential if the <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0019793918806250">almost 50% of non-union American workers</a> who say they want union representation are to have any chance of getting it. </p>
<h2>Dispelling fear, futility and apathy</h2>
<p>Lack of popular interest <a href="https://www.filesforprogress.org/memos/worker-power.pdf">has long been an obstacle</a> to labor law reform. </p>
<p>Meaningful labor law reform is unlikely to happen unless people are engaged with the issues, understand them and believe they have a stake in the outcome.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://theconversation.com/union-battles-at-amazon-and-starbucks-are-hot-news-which-can-only-be-good-for-the-labor-movement-172932">media interest in the campaigns at Starbucks and Amazon</a> suggests the American public may finally be paying attention.</p>
<p>It isn’t known where this latest labor movement – or moment – will lead. It could evaporate or it may just spark a wave of organizing across the low-wage service sector, stimulating a national debate over workers’ rights in the process. </p>
<p>The biggest weapons that anti-union corporations have in suppressing labor momentum are the fear of retaliation and a sense that unionization is futile. The recent successes show unionizing no longer seems so frightening or so futile. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Successful union drives at two of America’s biggest companies were led by committed individuals, rather than established unions.John Logan, Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies, San Francisco State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1729322021-12-10T13:38:27Z2021-12-10T13:38:27ZUnion battles at Amazon and Starbucks are hot news – which can only be good for the labor movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436962/original/file-20211210-137612-4iivn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C67%2C4980%2C3257&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Unions on the rise?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PicturesoftheWeek-NorthAmerica-PhotoGallery/510fa3d724d146cd96488b910fe65c4f/photo?Query=starbucks&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2554&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Joshua Bessex</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Union drives have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/07/business/media/labor-unions-media-coverage.html">suddenly become hot news</a>.</p>
<p>In a closely watched Nov. 29, 2021, decision, the National Labor Relations Board <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/29/business/amazon-bessemer-alabama-election.html">ruled that Amazon had committed serious violations</a> of federal labor law during a union campaign at a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. In the decision, the NLRB <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/11/29/amazon-warehouse-union-revote/">attacked Amazon’s “flagrant disregard</a>” for election rules, saying it “essentially hijacked the process.” The online retail giant won the union vote, held earlier this year, by a 2-1 margin but will now be forced into a do-over election. </p>
<p>Meanwhile in Buffalo, New York, baristas at Starbucks <a href="https://apnews.com/article/starbucks-union-vote-buffalo-c7dc3c2ec8b838e9f4ed641f54fc9035">voted to unionize</a> on Dec. 9, making them the coffee chain’s only unionized workforce in the United States in what has <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/12/09/1062150045/starbucks-first-union-buffalo-new-york">been touted as a “watershed” moment</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://cob.sfsu.edu/directory/john-logan">labor scholar who has tracked unionization efforts</a> for 20 years, I believe we could be on the cusp of a new labor relations order, spurred in large part by increased media and public interest generated by these high-profile campaigns.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/02/amazon-union-warehouse-workers/">organizing drive</a> at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Union from January to March 2021 was one of the most closely watched union campaigns in decades. It generated media coverage of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/technology/amazon-unions-virginia.html">Amazon’s anti-union behavior</a> and even arguably helped <a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/when_longtime_labor_reporter_steven.php">revive the so-called “labor beat</a>” in newsrooms after years of languishing.</p>
<p>The NLRB decision provided negative headlines for Amazon. “Amazon made ‘free and fair’ Bessemer union election ‘impossible,’ labor official rules,” <a href="https://www.al.com/news/2021/11/amazon-made-free-and-fair-bessemer-union-election-impossible-labor-official-rules.html">ran the headline of the Alabama</a> news site Al.com. The Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/11/29/amazon-warehouse-union-revote/">ran with</a>: “Labor board calls for revote at Amazon warehouse in Alabama in major victory for union.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A worker holds a pro-union sign outside an Amazon factory." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C16%2C5478%2C3641&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436773/original/file-20211209-23-1wekdgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fork in the road for organized labor?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/union-supporter-stands-before-sunrise-outside-the-amazon-news-photo/1232002101?adppopup=true">Patrick Fallon/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even if it were to win the second ballot without violating the law, Amazon is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-reporters-politicians-all-hands-salacious-criticism-2021-11">highly sensitive about negative media</a>, and company officials will likely loathe any coverage of another high-profile union election.</p>
<h2>Labor rights go mainstream</h2>
<p>The NLRB order itself was arguably less interesting – despite its huge potential significance at Amazon – than the fact that it resulted in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/29/business/amazon-bessemer-alabama-election.html">lengthy articles</a> in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/amazon-alabama-facility-ordered-re-run-union-election-us-labor-board-2021-11-29/">several major media outlets</a>.</p>
<p>Over the past year or so, organized labor has seemingly entered the mainstream again. It follows decades of apparent dwindling interest in union drives in the public sphere. A Google Ngram – which charts the use of terms in publications – shows a <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Unionization%2Cunion+drive&year_start=1950&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3">decline in the appearance of “unionization” and “union drive</a>” from the late 1970s to the late 2010s.</p>
<iframe name="ngram_chart" src="https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=Unionization%2Cunion+drive&year_start=1950&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2CUnionization%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cunion+drive%3B%2Cc0" width="100%" height="200" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<p><em>Labor organizing terms have dwindled in publications.</em></p>
<p>This decline correlates with the growing weakness of unions over that period: Unions represent <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm">only 10.8% of American workers today</a>, down from 20% four decades ago. </p>
<p>Into this decline has come a recent wave of <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkd538/unions-are-cool-now">positive press for unions</a>. It corresponds to almost record-high rates of public approval in unions. In fact, at 68%, support for unions is at its <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/354455/approval-labor-unions-highest-point-1965.aspx">highest level since 1965</a>. In addition, most Americans think union decline has <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/15/majorities-of-adults-see-decline-of-union-membership-as-bad-for-the-u-s-and-working-people/">hurt working people</a>. </p>
<p><iframe id="SeKfv" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/SeKfv/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Labor law reform</h2>
<p>The issue of labor rights has seemingly garnered the nation’s attention like nothing I have seen in my lifetime or even in the past half-century. And growing awareness of the issue could have an impact on efforts to improve the legislative environment for unionizing.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.filesforprogress.org/datasets/2021/6/dfp-vox-attitudes-towards-unions-toplines.pdf">recent poll found that 59% of respondents</a> supported strengthening labor laws through proposals such as penalizing companies that retaliate against workers trying to unionize and eliminating “right-to-work” laws that allow employees to benefit from union contracts without paying dues.</p>
<p>In the past, lack of public awareness has helped torpedo labor law reform campaigns. In 2009-2010, during the campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act, it was rare to encounter anyone without a professional labor interest who had ever heard of the legislation, which attracted only <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/research/reaching-for-new-deal-read-more">lackluster support from the Obama White House and died in the Senate</a>. </p>
<p>At present, the Biden-supported legislation aimed at strengthening the right to choose a union, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, is firmly on the back burner despite <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/6/16/22535274/poll-pro-act-unionization-majority-bipartisan">support from a majority of voters</a>.</p>
<p>In the face of opposition from Republicans and three Democrats, the legislation is <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-shift/2021/12/06/pro-act-allies-hit-the-road-799282">seen as a long shot in the Senate</a>, which historically has been the graveyard for labor reforms. The PRO Act might similarly die there, although pro-union advocates hope that meaningful financial penalties for employer violations will at least <a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/update-house-passes-build-back-better-bill-retaining-heavy-new-penalties-employer">make it into the $2 trillion Build Back Better bill</a>. </p>
<p>For the PRO Act to become a live proposition, it would likely need to convert its popular support into pressure on members of Congress.</p>
<p>This is the only way, in my view, to achieve meaningful change and make unionizing easier.</p>
<p>Headlines that focus on the coercive power that big corporations like Amazon exert over workers participating in elections could go some way to <a href="https://www.al.com/business/2021/04/most-americans-support-alabama-amazon-union-drive-poll-finds.html">bolster support for union drives</a>. </p>
<h2>Labor is hot</h2>
<p>Unions are set to continue to be a talking point in the national media with the Starbucks vote. </p>
<p>The coffee chain had been engaged in what was been described as “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/23/starbucks-aggressive-anti-union-effort-new-york-stores-organize">aggressive” anti-union tactics</a> ahead of the vote, including forcing employees to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/23/starbucks-aggressive-anti-union-effort-new-york-stores-organize">attend mandatory anti-union meetings</a>. Although it involves only a few dozen workers, the Workers United-SEIU union victory at Starbucks in Buffalo is seen as one of the most important labor organizing victories in several decades.</p>
<p>Corporate America has employed <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1057/9781137319067_2">brutal anti-union campaigns for decades</a>. What has changed, from my perspective, is that such activities are now seen as newsworthy – at least when the companies involved are household names.</p>
<p>This coverage provides a stark contrast with past media coverage, which <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-science/article/abs/organized-labor-as-the-new-undeserving-rich-mass-media-classbased-antiunion-rhetoric-and-public-support-for-unions-in-the-united-states/6CF19F2860C07ABAF0B7C787D8731A0C">often depicted unionized workers</a> as “overpaid, greedy and undeserving of their wealth.”</p>
<p>In the words of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/07/business/media/labor-unions-media-coverage.html">New York Times article</a> on Nov. 7, 2021, the “media loves labor now.”</p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-need-to-know">Sign up for Politics Weekly</a>.]</p>
<h2>Talking union</h2>
<p>In addition to Amazon and Starbucks, in recent months an expanding number and variety of employees have been talking about forming unions at their own workplaces. In the past few months alone <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/01/the-tactics-media-unions-are-using-to-build-membership">we have seen media</a>, <a href="https://www.kqed.org/news/11874325/tech-worker-organizing-is-nothing-new-but-actually-forming-unions-is">tech</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-04/museum-workers-embrace-unions-after-pandemic-job-cuts">museum workers</a> form unions and either stage or threaten strikes. </p>
<p>Coverage of the union campaign at Amazon is one reason talk of unionizing is seemingly spreading. But there are other factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, which has spurred numerous labor fights – big and small – and safety struggles by <a href="https://time.com/5928528/frontline-workers-strikes-labor/">Amazon warehouse workers and Amazon-owned Whole Foods workers</a>. Meanwhile, the advent of social media has made it easier to create buzz around pro-union campaigns, such as the <a href="https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2021/11/striketober.html">recent “#Striketober” hashtag campaign</a>.</p>
<p>Organizing, it appears, can be contagious – under the right conditions. </p>
<h2>Seizing the moment?</h2>
<p>It’s not yet clear that unions and their allies can capitalize on this apparent newfound public attention and convert it into increased membership levels or changes in legislation.</p>
<p>But I believe we are at a unique moment in U.S. labor history. The question is, will unions take advantage of the increased media attention – and the negative headlines for high-profile companies attempting to quash workers’ rights – and spur a new era of labor activism?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Logan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Union membership has dwindled over the past five decades. But could a flurry of positive headlines over union drives help reverse this trend?John Logan, Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies, San Francisco State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1364422020-05-07T17:34:29Z2020-05-07T17:34:29ZPlastic and the art of stigmatisation – is something amiss?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333127/original/file-20200506-49546-huxwoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C1500%2C1089&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org/photos/6fe39c7d-349f-46f6-a54d-b8ebd28cebb9">Cogdogblog/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Plastic-free aisle”, “No plastic straws”, “Plastic-free Tuesday”. Social media abounds with anti-plastic messages and chilling statistics about the quantity of plastic in our oceans, food, clothes and bodies flash before us in quick succession. Shocking images that circulate widely provoke emotions and <a href="https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amj.2017.1488">generate momentum for action on plastic</a>. </p>
<p>While the contrast of a beautiful beach with plastic waste might be striking, focusing our efforts on cleaning the beaches is unlikely to meaningfully impact plastic pollution. Are we missing the bigger picture of plastic pollution? Through a study of traditional media and social media during the most intense period of public criticism of plastic (2017-2018), we observed that stigmatisation – a process of <a href="https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.1080.0367">discreditation and vilification</a> – has focused on a few symbolic objects and corporations, zooming in on the visible, while leaving the majority of plastic production and pollution unexplored.</p>
<h2>Stigmatizing plastic as a strategy to create change</h2>
<p>Plastic is a general name given to a wide range of chemical compounds that are a mix of monomers and polymers. It is everywhere and modern life would be in some ways unthinkable without it. Durable, lightweight and affordable, plastic has many benefits, but there’s another story being told. A 2016 <em>National Geographic</em> article laid the problem bare: <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-waste-pollution-trash-crisis/">“We Made Plastic. We Depend on It. Now We’re Drowning in It”</a>. Plastic has become a contentious issue, stigmatised for its environmental and health impacts, and symbolic of our consumption-centred societies.</p>
<p>Urgent action is required and change in both our production and consumption patterns is necessary. Stigmatising strategies can be a powerful tool for change. This has been the case for whole industries such as armaments and tobacco, which suffered reputational penalties, decreased market value, reduced negotiating power and difficulties in recruiting top talent. Singling out a specific industry or organisation may seem straightforward, but stigma is much more difficult to grasp when the target is a material, that crosses a vast range of uses across many different industries. To unravel this complexity, we sought to understand which objects, organisations and industries were the focus of stigmatisation strategies around plastic and to analyse whether the stigmatisation process had the capacity to create change: namely our detoxification from plastic.</p>
<h2>What are the objects and industries that are being stigmatized?</h2>
<p>We analysed data from four mainstream news organisations in the UK and the Twitter accounts of 19 non-governmental organisations and five NGO heads which were highly active in 2017 and 2018 on the topic of plastic.</p>
<p>Our analysis of both the news organisations and the tweets reveal similar results. The top mentioned object is the plastic bag. The focus on plastic use in the food industry comes next, with highly recurring mentions of single-use plastic: bottles, cups, lids and straws that have facilitated our lifestyles yet litter the planet. The most targeted company is Coca Cola, closely followed by Nestlé, Mars, Starbucks, Pepsi and a number of retailers/supermarkets such as Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose. Companies from the consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors are by far the ones that are the most stigmatised.</p>
<p>While almost <a href="https://www.plasticseurope.org/application/files/9715/7129/9584/FINAL_web_version_Plastics_the_facts2019_14102019.pdf">40% of the demand for plastic comes from the packaging sector</a> (followed by building and construction 19.8%, automotive 9.9%, electrical and electronics 6.2% and household, leisure and sports 4.1%), the items which have caught the headlines do not tell the whole story. For example, plastic straws have become strongly linked to marine pollution and a symbol of unnecessary, even frivolous consumerism, yet represent <a href="https://earth.stanford.edu/news/do-plastic-straws-really-make-difference">less than 1% of 150 million tons of plastic littering the oceans</a>. At the same time secondary and transit packaging such as the single-use plastic films that protect consumer products through manufacturing, storage and distribution are <a href="https://www.citibank.com/commercialbank/insights/assets/docs/2018/rethinking-single-use-plastics.pdf">abundant but seldom discussed</a>.</p>
<p>Notable is the quasi absence from the newspapers and tweets of the plastic producers and petro-chemicals giants such as BASF, ExxonMobil, Dow and DuPont. All are powerful actors in the plastic ecosystem that see plastic resin production as an opportunity for future growth.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plastic is with us everywhere, not only in plain sight, but also deep in the oceans and even in our own bodies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org/photos/12a64e0a-29a4-49c6-8282-578216240328">Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The limits of stigmatisation strategies</h2>
<p>Through the analysis of social media and traditional media’s messages on plastic in 2017 and 2018, we were able to provide an understanding of the stigmatisation processes at play. Stigmatisation, what the industry has named “plastic bashing”, has focused intensively on end-consumer visible symbolic products such as bottles, straws and single-use food packaging. Moreover, the name-shaming has also been concentrated on popular consumer brands such as Coca-Cola.</p>
<p>However, whether stigmatisation strategies have triggered the necessary action to curb the plastic problem is open to question. Plastic production keeps on increasing and industry players are focused on recycling, not on switching to other materials or reducing plastic use. Governments have implemented bans of symbolic targeted objects and legislated on circular economy packages, but recent concerns about Covid-19 have given rise to promotion of single-use plastics as a health-care solution rather than a problem. Indeed, plastic lobbies have asked the European Commission to <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2020/04/12/a-la-faveur-de-la-crise-sanitaire-le-plastique-a-usage-unique-fait-son-retour-en-force_6036357_3244.html">delay implementation of limits on single-use plastic</a>.</p>
<p>Concentrated and coordinated stigmatisation can result in the ban of a limited range of products. However, research indicates that without education or environmental programs, <a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-rid-of-plastic-bags-a-windfall-for-supermarkets-but-it-wont-do-much-for-the-environment-81083">bans can have limited benefits for the environment</a>. Because stigmatisation focuses on downstream visual and symbolic items and known brands, the reaction is itself visible for the general public and the stigmatisers, but without visibility of the upstream production and supply side, flow of plastic entering our society continues.</p>
<p>Stigmatisation could also be detrimental by causing distraction from the wider landscape of plastic production and the pollution that it creates, which is vast compared to the pollution created by the stigmatized (and now banned) items. While changes in plastic use by consumer brands is a welcome step forward, it will not significantly impact the curve of plastic production and pollution. </p>
<h2>Breaking the link between plastic and society</h2>
<p>Deinstitutionalisation – the eradication of widespread practices and products built around a particular substance – is a much longer process. Asbestos and the pesticide DDT were deinstitutionalized when the link between them and human health became undeniable, triggering lawsuits and wide legal bans. To deinstitutionalize plastic, systems thinking would be required, just as with other complex grand challenges. Today plastic use is deeply intertwined with other problems such as food waste, greenhouse-gas emissions, income inequality, waste, biodiversity loss, and oil production.</p>
<p>Stigmatisation is only one of many tactics that can be used to tackle plastic pollution. While it has succeeded in shining a light on the issue, strategies that are both broader and longer term are required. For example, developing a worldwide plastic treaty through the UN – such as that created for ozone-depleting gases – could be an avenue for consideration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136442/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>A media study of public criticism of plastic reveals that stigmatisation may result in limited bans, it leaves the vast majority of plastic production and pollution unexplored.Céline Louche, Professor, Business & Society, AudenciaDelphine Gibassier, Professeur Associé de Comptabilité du Développement Durable, AudenciaJennifer Goodman, Associate Professor, Business & Society, AudenciaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1314472020-02-10T13:56:50Z2020-02-10T13:56:50Z3 ways coronavirus will affect the US economy – and 1 silver lining<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314350/original/file-20200210-27557-1tmlnt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C136%2C2974%2C1865&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Apple closed all its stores in China as a health precaution, now through at least Feb. 14. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roman Balandin/TASS via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the new coronavirus <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/09/world/asia/coronavirus-china.html">spreads around the world</a>, and confirmed cases and deaths mount, economists are increasingly concerned about the impact on the U.S. economy. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/2020-02-mpr-summary.htm">recent report to Congress</a>, the Federal Reserve warned that disruptions from the coronavirus could spill over into the global economy, creating new risks to the U.S. And Wall Street lender <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-closes-china-to-the-world-straining-global-economy-11580689793">Goldman Sachs estimates</a> that the virus will cut as much as half a point off of U.S. economic output in the first quarter of 2020. </p>
<p>As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Ya-wl6EAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">expert in supply chain management</a>, I’ve studied how dependent U.S. companies have become on manufacturers of parts and products in China. But that is only one of many ways the outbreak could hurt the U.S. economy. Here, I list three – as well as something that could mitigate the impact. </p>
<h2>1. Sales to China</h2>
<p>China is one of the largest markets for U.S. products, especially electronics and <a href="https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201812/06/WS5c08b214a310eff30328f7be.html">fashion</a>.</p>
<p>For example, about 47% of <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/737844/revenue-of-qualcomm-by-region/">Qualcomm’s annual revenue</a> and 28% of <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/263560/net-revenue-of-intel-by-region-since-2006/">Intel’s income</a> comes from China, making it the most important region for both chipmakers. China is also the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/382175/quarterly-revenue-of-apple-by-geograhical-region/">second-largest market for iPhone-maker Apple</a>, and the outbreak has the potential to severely depress its sales. <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/apples-chinese-stores-to-remain-closed-due-to-coronavirus/">Apple extended the closure</a> of its corporate offices and all of its stores in China until at least Feb. 14.</p>
<p>Many cities and provinces <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/07/virus-outbreak-forces-chinese-to-stay-at-home-and-order-more-delivery.html">have told businesses</a> to stay closed, and residents throughout China have been staying off the streets. That has resulted in deserted shopping centers with closed stores, including those run by American fast food companies and fashion retailers, such as <a href="https://hypebeast.com/2020/2/nike-adidas-coronavirus-china-store-closing">Nike, Starbucks and McDonald’s</a>, to name a few. </p>
<h2>2. Constrained and disrupted supply chains</h2>
<p>The Chinese economy <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/for-want-of-widgets-exporters-hit-by-china-factory-shutdown-race-to-shore-up-supplies/2020/02/06/f13f7602-47f0-11ea-91ab-ce439aa5c7c1_story.html">has effectively shut down</a>, which is taking a toll on U.S. manufacturers through their supply chains. </p>
<p>Manufacturers that use components in their products that are mostly sourced from infected areas in China such as Wuhan, <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus-outbreak/Wuhan-lockdown-strikes-at-heart-of-Made-in-China-2025">where more than 500 car parts manufacturers operate,</a> have two options: find alternative sources outside of China or shut down production. </p>
<p>Automakers including Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/business/hyundai-south-korea-coronavirus.html">have shut down plants</a> in China. Hyundai has gone a step further and temporarily closed production lines in South Korea because of a shortage of parts, a hint of more trouble for other manufacturers. </p>
<p>U.S. companies such as <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmoorhead/2019/04/13/who-are-apples-iphone-contract-manufacturers/#400fb974e6de">Apple that have outsourced most of their manufacturing facilities to China</a> have been affected by widespread closures. And even when components or products remain generally available, the disruption to established supply chains is limiting access for some companies.</p>
<h2>3. US tourism will take a hit</h2>
<p>Chinese tourism has in recent years become an <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/goldman-sachs-warns-wuhan-coronavirus-will-hit-us-growth-2020-1-1028863082">important driver</a> of U.S. GDP. </p>
<p>Then the trade war arrived, and that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/business/trade-war-us-china-tourism.html">caused a large drop</a> in Chinese visits. Now, the coronavirus is expected to deal another blow to the industry. Many airlines have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/02/04/business/04reuters-china-health-airlines-factbox.html">have canceled all flights</a> in and out of China, and the Trump administration has imposed <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/482103-trump-health-officials-defend-coronavirus-quarantine-travel-restrictions">travel restrictions</a> that bar any foreign national who has recently traveled to China from entering the U.S. </p>
<p>The number of visitors coming to the United States from China <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/tourism-economics/craft/Latest-Research-Docs/Coronavirus-scenarios-TE-Oxford-1-31-2020.pdf">could drop by as much as 28%</a> in 2020, which could translate into US$5.8 billion in less spending this year and $10.3 billion less through 2024. </p>
<h2>Trade war’s silver lining</h2>
<p>One consequence of the U.S.-China trade war is that <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/03/economy/us-china-trade-war-winners/index.html">many U.S. companies have moved all or most</a> of their manufacturing facilities out of China to other countries in the region, such as Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh and South Korea. </p>
<p>In a May 2019 <a href="https://www.amcham-shanghai.org/sites/default/files/2019-05/Joint_survey_on_tariffs_May_2019.pdf">survey</a>, about 40% of American Chamber of Commerce member companies said they have relocated manufacturing facilities outside China or were considering doing so.</p>
<p>This could mitigate some of the impact as a result of disruptions in mainland, but <a href="https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-02-09-20-intl-hnk/index.html">the outbreak is spreading</a> to other countries in Asia – though not as fast as in China – so their new manufacturing facilities could still be affected. </p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Aboolian does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the Fed warns of the risks posed by the new coronavirus, a supply chain expert explains how the outbreak could harm companies and the economy.Robert Aboolian, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management, California State University San MarcosLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1076782019-02-08T19:49:57Z2019-02-08T19:49:57ZHow to say ‘I’m sorry,’ whether you’ve appeared in a racist photo, harassed women or just plain screwed up<p>“I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>These two words may seem simple, but the ability to express them when you’re in the wrong is anything but – particularly for those in the public eye. </p>
<p>Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, to name a recent example, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ralph-northam-response-racist-yearbook-photo_us_5c54bca6e4b0871047536bed">was forced to apologize</a> after his 1984 medical school yearbook page resurfaced showing two unnamed men, one with blackface and another wearing the Ku Klux Klan’s white hood and robe. That he seriously botched his effort to apologize is arguably one of the reasons <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/md-gov-hogan-calls-on-virginias-northam-to-resign/2019/02/06/056e6d78-2a41-11e9-984d-9b8fba003e81_story.html">many people</a> are still <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/01/politics/democrats-call-on-northam-to-resign/index.html">calling on him</a> to resign. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/people/lisa-leopold">language scholar</a>, I wanted to get to the bottom of just what makes an apology effective by analyzing dozens of mea culpas. While some offered authentic apologies, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/us/statement-from-harvey-weinstein.html?mtrref=www.wmagazine.com">many more seemed defensive</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/us/southwest-airlines-lindsay-gottlieb-biracial-baby-trnd/index.html">insincere</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6DOhioBfyY">forced</a>.</p>
<p>With the help of insights from <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">linguists</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vP01U8qr4">psychologists</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-0915-9">business ethicists</a> who study apologies, I found that there are three main elements each needs to have to be effective.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257115/original/file-20190204-193226-1o4ofl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demonstrators call for Northam’s resignation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Governor-Klan-Blackface/6ceb35ad4abf48e88eddbc6986c65e97/15/0">AP Photo/Steve Helber</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not all apologies are equal</h2>
<p>Much is at stake with a public apology.</p>
<p>When done right, it can rebuild trust and <a href="https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0378216608003007/1-s2.0-S0378216608003007-main.pdf?_tid=65a4d09e-c6be-4eeb-a055-c41490e57dea&acdnat=1549406972_fcd23b7de5022a7f8239b687c7ee5a9d">restore a damaged reputation</a>. However, a poorly crafted apology can lead to widespread criticism and further damage credibility. <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/08/research-for-a-corporate-apology-to-work-the-ceo-should-look-sad">Research shows</a> that the <a href="https://on.ft.com/2DmdS1n">way a company crafts an apology</a> can even affect its future financial performance and that leaders who apologize <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225822507_Apologies_and_Transformational_Leadership">tend to be viewed more favorably</a> than those who don’t.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.moodypublishers.com/books/marriage-and-family/when-sorry-isnt-enough/">When Sorry Isn’t Enough: Making Things Right with Those You Love</a>,” Gary Chapman and Jennifer Thomas cite a survey of what people preferred most in an apology. It found that almost four-fifths wanted their would-be penitent to either express regret or accept responsibility, as opposed to make restitution, repent or seek forgiveness. </p>
<p>In 2011, David Boyd, now dean emeritus at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-011-0915-9">identified seven strategies</a> that make public apologies effective. I believe three of them – revelation, responsibility and recognition – are the most significant because they overlap with those identified by prominent scholars in other fields, including <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/umn.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dW1uLmVkdXxhbmRyZXdkY29oZW58Z3g6MTRlNmUzYWUxMGJmZjMxZg">linguists Andrew Cohen and Elite Olshtain</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vP01U8qr4">psychologist Robert Gordon</a>. </p>
<p>That is, an admission for the lapse using the words “I am sorry” or “I apologize,” ownership for the offense and empathy for those who have been hurt all contribute to an effective apology. But it’s not enough for an apology just to contain these three ingredients. It’s also about the exact wording used.</p>
<p>In my analysis of infamous public apologies that celebrities, CEOs and political figures have delivered over the past two years, I was looking for how they fared according to Boyd’s standards of revelation, responsibility and recognition. I also closely examined the language of each apology, applying many insights from linguist Edwin Battistella’s book “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sorry-about-that-9780199300914?cc=us&lang=en&">Sorry About That: The Language of Public Apology</a>.”</p>
<h2>1. ‘I am sorry’</h2>
<p>This may seem obvious but sadly isn’t: Any respectable apology must include an actual apology with a specific acknowledgment of what was done. Surprisingly, some people attempting to own up to something never get around to actually apologizing. </p>
<p>Comedian Louis C.K., for example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/arts/television/louis-ck-statement.html">never actually used words</a> like “apologize” or “sorry” after <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/arts/television/louis-ck-sexual-misconduct.html?module=inline">being accused of sexual misconduct</a> by several women. He called the stories “true” and said he was “remorseful” but dodged the actual apology. </p>
<p>Others try to apologize in a general way to avoid being pinned down to a specific transgression, weakening the impact. Or they may admit to a lesser offense. A case in point is <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/28/apple-apologizes-for-not-being-clearer-about-slowing-down-iphones-with-older-batteries/">Apple’s non-apology apology</a> in December 2017 over the performance of iPhone batteries.</p>
<p>“We’ve been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process,” the company said. “We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize.”</p>
<p>Was Apple apologizing for the poor-performing batteries, its communication process or the feelings of its customers? Distancing the actual apology from the transgressions is a common tactic in corporate apologies, used in recent years both by <a href="https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Discrimination-and-Belonging/td-p/191832">Airbnb</a> and <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2018/04/16/uber-tries-to-make-nice-with-the-city-of-portland.html">Uber</a> as well.</p>
<h2>2. ‘I did it’</h2>
<p>Any well-crafted apology must claim responsibility for the transgression – not attribute one’s actions to happenstance or external factors.</p>
<p>Amid the Cambridge Analytica scandal, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6DOhioBfyY">Facebook</a> CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the passive voice to distance himself from any wrongdoing: “I’m really sorry that this happened,” he said in an interview to CNN.</p>
<p>That wasn’t the first time he used the passive voice this way. In an earlier <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-zuckerberg/zuckerberg-seeks-forgiveness-for-division-caused-by-his-work-idUSKCN1C61XY">apology issued in 2017</a> after Facebook was criticized for Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, he said, “For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness and I will work to do better.” </p>
<p>The choice of the passive suggests that he has little control over the ways his work was used by others.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/charlierose/status/932747035069034496">Another example</a> is Charlie Rose, a television journalist <a href="https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/cbs-fired-charlie-rose-one-year-ago-today/385128">fired by CBS</a> following accusations of sexual misconduct. He issued an apology in the following manner: “I have learned a great deal as a result of these events, and I hope others will too. All of us, including me, are coming to a newer and deeper recognition of the pain caused by conduct in the past, and have come to a profound new respect for women and their lives.”</p>
<p>By including himself as one of several people and embedding his actions as part of a broader group’s actions, he minimized responsibility for his own transgressions.</p>
<p>Others simply try to deflect attention from the transgression as part of an apology, as actor <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinSpacey/status/924848412842971136">Kevin Spacey</a> did when he announced his sexual orientation or like disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/us/statement-from-harvey-weinstein.html?mtrref=www.wmagazine.com">vow to direct his anger to the National Rifle Association</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson in April 2018 gave an <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/views/a-follow-up-message-from-starbucks-ceo-in-philadelphia">example of an apology</a> that takes real ownership after two African-American men were arrested while waiting for a friend at one of his stores: “These two gentlemen did not deserve what happened, and we are accountable. I am accountable.”</p>
<h2>3. ‘I feel your pain’</h2>
<p>Finally, apologies should meet the standard of recognition: expressing empathy to those who have been hurt.</p>
<p>Many so-called apologies fail to acknowledge victims’ feelings, focusing instead on justifications or excuses. For example, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/13/entertainment/henry-cavill-me-too-apology/index.html">actor Henry Cavill apologized</a> for his controversial statements about the #MeToo movement by saying he’s sorry for “any confusion and misunderstanding that” his comments created. In doing so, he insinuated that there was no transgressor or victim, as more than one party is typically to blame for a misunderstanding.</p>
<p>Expressions of empathy are further weakened anytime a modal such as “may” is used to cast doubt on whether the transgression had a negative impact on others. In <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/russell-simmons-pens-response-sexual-assault-allegations-1061061">an apology issued</a> by the record producer Russell Simmons for sexual misconduct, his use of “may” ultimately suggests that women may or may not have been offended by his actions: “For any women from my past who I may have offended, I sincerely apologize. I am still evolving.”</p>
<p>Furthermore, those last four words show that he’s focusing on his own growth, rather than the pain of his victims.</p>
<h2>Failing to apologize</h2>
<p>Returning to Northam, his apology failed to live up to all three strategies. </p>
<p>After initially accepting that one of the men was him, he quickly reversed himself, expressing contrition while distancing himself from the racist photo. And then his apology included the vague wording “for the decision I made to appear as I did,” which hardly constitutes a worthy admission of wrongdoing. </p>
<p>Referring to his actions as “this” rather than “my” minimizes ownership. And rather than accepting responsibility, <a href="https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/mycity/norfolk/democrat-virginia-gov-ralph-northam-will-not-resign-northam-says-it-wasnt-him-in-photo/291-149fb35a-dc3b-4241-9211-e1721ba756dd">he pleads with the public</a> not to let his past behavior shape how they see him.</p>
<p>So if you’re finding it difficult to parse the multitude of public apologies in the mainstream media, look closely for these three ingredients, along with the language each uses.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107678/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Leopold does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trying to figure out if Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam or other would-be penitents are sincere? A scholar who analyzed dozens of recent apologies offers a user’s guide.Lisa Leopold, Associate Professor of English Language Studies, The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, MiddleburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1109522019-01-31T23:01:11Z2019-01-31T23:01:11ZWhy the media loves the white racist story<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256711/original/file-20190131-127151-1o3lww1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The boy who went viral: Nick Sandmann shown here in his MAGA cap with fellow students next to Indigenous elder playing the drum. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Instagram/ka_ya11</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Racism isn’t new and will not go away. What is new is the interest in <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/viral-call-out-culture/">pointing it out and calling out</a> its perpetrators through both mainstream and social media. Especially white racists. What explains the need to do this? And why do incidents go viral so quickly?</p>
<p>Take for instance the case of <a href="https://soundcloud.com/sociopodcasts/the-maga-hat-kid">Nick Sandmann</a>, a white teenager from Kentucky whose picture and video many will have now seen. In a video, Sandmann is standing across from Native American demonstrator, Nathan Phillips, who is holding a rawhide drum. Sandmann is smiling or smirking at Phillips. From the videos, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/19/us/teens-mock-native-elder-trnd/index.html">we don’t know which it is</a>. </p>
<p>What we do know is that Sandmann has been <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/alyssa-milano-red-hats-maga-hats-in-trumps-america-its-not-enough-to-not-be-a-racist/">widely condemned for disrespecting Phillips</a>. Sandmann was wearing a Make America Great Again (MAGA) cap. <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/01/25/trump-maga-hats-racist-make-america-great-again/2677458002/">And many people believe wearing the MAGA cap proves that Sandmann is a racist.</a></p>
<p>Maybe, as everyone seems loathe to do, instead of asking whether Sandmann is a racist or not, we might ask another question: Why is there so much interest in this story?</p>
<p>Why are so many people interested in pointing out and shaming individual white racists? There have been dozens of these events highlighted on social and mainstream media this year. Here are a few of the incidents that went viral and sparked outrage: a video of <a href="https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/2019/01/23/video-mocking-indigenous-dance-just-one-thread-in-unravelling-canadas-racism-problem-researcher-says.html">Fort McMurray teens mocking Indigenous dance</a>, another of a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/video/4631073/woman-fired-after-racist-rant-goes-viral">North Carolina woman’s racist rant</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/man-confronts-muslim-family-toronto-ferry-terminal-viral-1.4761908">the racist tirade against a Muslim family at the Toronto Ferry Terminal</a>.</p>
<p>Why are people less interested in calling out the <a href="https://theconversation.com/dear-white-people-wake-up-canada-is-racist-83124">systems that prime them to act in racist ways and foster lifelong inequities</a>.</p>
<h2>Easy targets</h2>
<p>We think the reason lies in the fact that by pointing out other individual racists, people can feel good about themselves without actually doing very much. In this way, individuals do not need to question how they must change their lives to create the more just society they say they want. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256723/original/file-20190131-108334-1q3m7xm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256723/original/file-20190131-108334-1q3m7xm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256723/original/file-20190131-108334-1q3m7xm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256723/original/file-20190131-108334-1q3m7xm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256723/original/file-20190131-108334-1q3m7xm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256723/original/file-20190131-108334-1q3m7xm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256723/original/file-20190131-108334-1q3m7xm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A video which circulated on social media shows a heated exchange between a man and a family at the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal in Toronto in July.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Hasan Ahmed/Facebook)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>White people can feel good about themselves because, unlike what is claimed about Sandmann, they probably aren’t overtly racist.</p>
<p>These days most people are not overtly or publicly racist. And being labelled a racist can lead to social stigma. The individual (who may or may not be white) racist and their story, however, provides easy answers and easy targets. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.yorku.ca/fhenry/colourofdemocracy.htm">Structural racism</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/colonialism-was-a-disaster-and-the-facts-prove-it-84496">colonization</a> are not seen as the problem. It also allows people to ignore broader trends, such as the recent <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/181129/dq181129a-eng.htm">rise of hate crimes</a>. Instead the focus is often on the spectacle of the incident and the problem is pinned on just one individual or a group of individuals. </p>
<p>In the Sandmann case, many see the problem as the individual racist, not <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-fascist-efforts-to-demolish-democracy-106247">the context that created the MAGA movement</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/starbucks-and-the-impact-of-implicit-bias-training-96491">Starbucks and the impact of implicit bias training</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Ignored in the process of labelling people racists and shaming them is that the shaming fails to condemn actions. Instead, it focuses on a single person. Condemning people gives <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29455445">them little room to change</a>, grow or learn from their mistakes. Humility is needed on all sides. </p>
<h2>The move to innocence</h2>
<p>Pointing out and condemning individuals for their racism is popular because it exemplifies what scholars Eve Tuck and Wayne Yang would call a “<a href="https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18630">move to innocence</a>.” Moves to innocence are the rhetorical moves that people use to distance themselves from genocide and colonization. </p>
<p>Those who have privilege and power can just tell themselves that they are one of the “good ones” because they aren’t racist like the people in the videos.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dear-white-people-wake-up-canada-is-racist-83124">Dear white people, wake up: Canada is racist</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In pointing out <em>others</em> as racist, people don’t then have to ask themselves difficult questions about their own privilege or do the work of fostering social humility. Those of the dominant society don’t have to think about the ways that they benefit from slavery, colonialism and land theft. </p>
<p>They don’t have to think about pipelines and stolen land. They don’t have to think. They can just point.</p>
<p>If we want to move forward, we need to stop taking an aggressive punitive approach to individual racism. This only divides the right and the left. No side is “innocent” when it comes to discrimination or colonization.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110952/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s easier to accuse someone else of racism than it is to challenge the racist and colonial systems we participate in.Rima Wilkes, Professor of Sociology, University of British ColumbiaHoward Ramos, Professor of Sociology, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1046612018-10-24T17:34:02Z2018-10-24T17:34:02ZYour job might disappear, but don’t blame artificial intelligence for that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241650/original/file-20181022-105779-1ckeab4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C28%2C3221%2C2025&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/download/confirm/1089358634?src=ZFTZhf4TU9NxJ_jYsl67Vg-1-5&size=huge_jpg">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When we talk about the jobs at risk, artificial intelligence is often seen as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-artificial-intelligence-a-job-killer-80473">main threat</a>. However, this technology is still at its very beginning, while a lot of jobs are already transforming and even disappearing. Conversely, other jobs seem to resist, even if technologies already exist to replace them.</p>
<h2>The extinction of some jobs</h2>
<p>You don’t need to be an expert to observe how some jobs are already dying, and the supermarket cashier is one of the most typical examples. For some years, increasing numbers of cashiers have been replaced by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/16/retail-industry-cashier-jobs-technology-unemployment">self-checkout machines</a>, several of which can be run by one employee… The same can be seen in the fast-food restaurants, at the cinema, at the airport, etc. More and more companies are implementing machines based on apps, tablets, printers, and more, replacing people formerly in charge of the ordering, registering or payment processing. The remaining employees only check the machines and assist customers if needed.</p>
<p>The disappearance of these jobs has nothing to do with the rise of artificial intelligence, as the technologies used have been on the market for a while. More precisely, any job based on delimited tasks, following a specific order, and making predefined choices could already be replaced by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-a-robot-do-your-job-short-answer-yes-39569">existing technologies</a>.</p>
<p>This is not a new phenomenon. <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/10-jobs-disappeared-history-books-7214782">Throughout the last century</a>, a lot of jobs were replaced by machines. Who remember the ticket punchers, aircraft listeners, lamplighters or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocker-up">knockers up</a>? All of these jobs disappeared decades ago, and were being replaced by machines. Actually, they were easily replaced by machines because they were designed as clear-cut, measurable and regularly scheduled tasks. Inherited mainly from the industrial and bureaucratic era, most of these jobs were designed based on the model of the machine. At the end of the day, it was not so difficult to <a href="https://lejournal.cnrs.fr/articles/a-lusine-au-bureau-tous-remplaces-par-des-robots">design machine to replace them</a>.</p>
<h2>Resisting the rise of automation</h2>
<p>However, some jobs resist the rise of automation, in spite of technologies already available on the market. A good example is the librarian: Even if we can consult or buy any book online, librarians have <a href="https://theconversation.com/technology-hasnt-killed-public-libraries-its-inspired-them-to-transform-and-stay-relevant-100900">transformed public libraries</a> to stay relevant. The same applies for booksellers, bartenders, florists and more. For instance, in spite of the implementation of numerous automatic coffee machines in most of the public places (train stations, universities, libraries, etc.), people still go and spend time in coffee shops. In a way, the success of chains such as <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/09/19/lets-look-at-starbucks-growth-strategy/#4cc7e9cd3d71">Starbucks</a> can seem a bit anachronistic, as it is cheaper to buy a coffee at the automatic coffee-machine.</p>
<p>Of course, there are many reasons to go to the coffee-shop rather than just grabbing a cup of coffee at the automatic coffee machine, and if we put the quality of the coffee aside, one of the main reasons seems to be the social experience we live. In a 2018 book, <a href="https://www.ericklinenberg.com/books"><em>Palaces for the People</em></a>, Eric Klinenberg suggests that places such as public libraries are social infrastructures that play an increasingly important role in our social lives. In a time when people can easily feel isolated, we need more and more places to connect people – and the jobs that make them possible.</p>
<h2>Why do some jobs resist while other are dying?</h2>
<p>This is an important lesson about the evolution of work as it means that not all the jobs will disappear, but rather those are more based on technical and routine tasks than social ones. According to a <a href="http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf">2013 Oxford University study</a>, if your job participates in the making of (good) social experiences for people, you might keep your job. This is an important lesson about the evolution of work and it means that not all jobs will disappear. Plus, it is not the less-qualified jobs that are likely to disappear first, but those are more technical than social. Those who worked as “knockers up” – people paid to wake up other people by knocking at the door or the window in the morning – or the subway-system ticket puncher did important jobs, but they did not participate directly in making connections between people. In a way, most of the <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2018.pdf">jobs currently at risk</a> are facing the same issue.</p>
<p>Conversely, the bartender and the bookseller provide a social experience that people like. It is unlikely – this is always a risky bet to predict the future – that robots will replace the bartenders as they participate in providing a good social experience when we go to the bar or the restaurant. This is even, one might guess, one of the main reason why we go to a bar. Of course, the artificial intelligence will sooner or later affect the <a href="http://theconversation.com/no-artificial-intelligence-wont-steal-your-childrens-jobs-it-will-make-them-more-creative-and-productive-91672">world of work</a> as this technology will even be able to perform some creative and cognitive tasks or to express emotions, but we do not need to wait for it to think the future of work.</p>
<p>If you are doing a more technical job than a social one, then your position is at risk (except maybe if you’re doing a <a href="https://hbr.org/2018/01/the-future-of-human-work-is-imagination-creativity-and-strategy">creative one</a>). Not in the next 5 to 10 years, but right now. It means that some people might face unemployment, whatever the evolution of technologies. However, if one considers that the <a href="https://theconversation.com/les-humains-au-travail-dans-la-societe-de-lintelligence-artificielle-102553">social skills will be more and more important</a> – the technical ones can already be partly or entirely automated – qualities such as the empathy, emotional intelligence, and even kindness could well be rewarded on the job market. At the end of the day, no robot or app will replace a smile, a glance or a friendly gesture. At least, not yet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104661/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Hussenot ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>While many jobs are being replaced by technology, those that participate in the making of (good) social experiences for people are bucking the trend.Anthony Hussenot, Professor in Organization Studies, Université Côte d’AzurLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1019482018-08-30T10:47:36Z2018-08-30T10:47:36ZUS prisoners’ strike is reminder how commonplace inmate labor is – and that it may run afoul of the law<p>Prisoners in 17 U.S. states <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/us/national-prison-strike-2018.html">went on strike</a> on Aug. 21 by refusing to eat or work to call attention to a number of troubling issues, including dilapidated facilities, harsh sentences and other aspects of mass incarceration in America. </p>
<p>As we approach Labor Day, the strike places a spotlight on the questionable practice of putting prisoners to work for <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/04/10/wages/">very low or no wages</a>. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/8/24/17768438/national-prison-strike-factory-labor">Examples of what</a> incarcerated people do or have done include answering customer service phone calls, fighting wildfires, packaging Starbucks coffee and producing consumer goods such as lingerie.</p>
<p>But this practice may run afoul of several U.S. legal commitments – including the 13th Amendment ending slavery – and even violates voluntary <a href="http://www.starbucks.ph/media/Business-Ethics-and-Compliance-eng_tcm70-11290.pdf">codes of conduct</a> of some of the companies involved.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Q0iWni4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I</a> belong to a <a href="https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/amend13/">group</a> of scholars of U.S. constitutional law, labor law and history from several universities, who see the 13th Amendment as about more than 19th-century slavery, even if that was its primary genesis. </p>
<p>Rather, we consider it a continuing obligation on governments and private companies to root out all forms of economic exploitation, even when it is done within prison walls.</p>
<h2>Prisoners at work around the world</h2>
<p>Prison labor is widely used in many <a href="https://www.freetheslaves.net/new-report-says-36-million-people-enslaved-worldwide/">countries</a> throughout the world on every continent, involving an estimated 36 million people. </p>
<p>Proponents of forcing inmates to work <a href="https://psmag.com/social-justice/taking-freedom-modern-day-slavery">justify</a> it as a way for prisoners to repay their debt to society and to provide skills that will be useful at the end of prison sentences. They say it also partially offsets the high costs of mass incarceration, <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/money.html">recently estimated</a> at US$182 billion a year nationwide. </p>
<p>The U.S. government has often <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-forcedlabour/forced-labor-shows-back-breaking-lack-of-reform-in-myanmar-military-idUSKCN0PC2L720150702">admonished</a> other countries such as Burma and China for using forced labor to build pipelines or make goods or in times of national emergency. Yet the truth is, it’s just as prevalent in the U.S. as elsewhere, with the Department of the Navy and <a href="http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-will-pay-130-000-to-settle-stillwater-prison-lawsuit/264840881/">Minnesota</a> among the governmental entities sued for minimum wage violations in prisons. </p>
<p>In fact, a <a href="https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3152671/">2004 economic analysis</a> of labor in both state and federal prison estimated that in the previous year inmates produced more than $2 billion worth of commodities, both goods and services. </p>
<p>And many private businesses have used prison labor, such as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2015/06/17/yes-prisoners-used-to-sew-lingerie-for-victorias-secret-just-like-in-orange-is-the-new-black-season-3/">Victoria’s Secret</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-02/paying-inmates-minimum-wages-helps-the-working-class">Starbucks</a> and Microsoft.</p>
<p>Even immigrants awaiting deportation proceedings were forced to do janitorial and clerical work for $1 a day at the private detention facilities where they were held, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/Owino_v_Corecivic_Inc_No_17CV1112_JLS_NLS_2018_BL_170876_SD_Cal_M?1526414738">recent litigation</a>. <a href="https://openjurist.org/29/f3d/682/henthorn-v-department-of-navy">Inmates have claimed in lawsuits</a> that they earned as little as 12 cents an hour – or nothing as all, as is <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/8/24/17768438/national-prison-strike-factory-labor">legal in some states</a>.</p>
<h2>The 13th Amendment</h2>
<p>Unlike other countries, however, forced prison labor in the U.S. must be reconciled with the <a href="https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.html">13th Amendment</a> to the U.S. Constitution, which is most famous for forbidding the practice of slavery. </p>
<p>The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, states in full: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime for which the person has been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to its jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this Article by appropriate legislation.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The first section of the amendment makes clear that people convicted of a crime can be forced to work as punishment but says nothing about whether they have to be compensated.</p>
<p>And according to the second, Congress clearly has the power to regulate inmate labor in federal prisons but has not done so. Lawmakers have, however, passed other laws that may already apply to prisoners with jobs, such as the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/statutes/FairLaborStandAct.pdf">Fair Labor Standards Act</a> of 1938, which guarantees a minimum wage and overtime to all of those employed in the U.S. </p>
<p>While some U.S. courts have suggested that prisoners working for private companies be paid like other employees, there’s been no <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1075842">definitive</a> decision on this issue. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233966/original/file-20180828-86129-14vmx48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233966/original/file-20180828-86129-14vmx48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233966/original/file-20180828-86129-14vmx48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233966/original/file-20180828-86129-14vmx48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233966/original/file-20180828-86129-14vmx48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1118&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233966/original/file-20180828-86129-14vmx48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1118&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233966/original/file-20180828-86129-14vmx48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1118&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 1940, the U.S. released a postage stamp commemorating the 13th Amendment’s 75th anniversary.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/united-states-circa-1940-postage-stamp-190532123">chrisdorney/shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Expanding its meaning</h2>
<p>The group to which I belong, known as the <a href="https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/amend13/">Thirteenth Amendment Project</a>, aims to find ways to use the Amendment to reduce economic injustice in the U.S. and tackle problems such as minimum labor standards and mass incarceration. </p>
<p>In our view, the meaning of “involuntary servitude” in the amendment has a wider reach than simply the abusive arrangements that were in place in 1865. We believe it should also include modern conditions facing immigrant workers, <a href="https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/amend13_mi/">detainees</a> and workers <a href="https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/amend13_db/">bound</a> to abusive contractual work arrangements – the kind that the Supreme Court <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/219/219/">struck down</a> in the <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/322/4/">20th</a> century.</p>
<p>In addition, the Reconstruction-era drafters of the Amendment sought to prevent the newly freed slaves from becoming unfair competition in the labor force. So they instituted labor protections into the infrastructure of the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/freedmens-bureau">Freedman’s Bureau</a>, which Congress set up in 1865 to help former black slaves as well as poor whites in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War. </p>
<p>The Freedmen’s Bureau offers evidence of the role that Congress envisioned under the amendment to protect freed slaves and others against exploitation and unfair competition – which, in my view, are both at issue today in the context of unpaid prison labor.</p>
<h2>International obligations</h2>
<p>Beyond domestic law, there’s the issue of the United States’ obligations under international human rights conventions. </p>
<p>The U.S. is a member of the International Labor Organization, which as a <a href="https://www.ilo.org/declaration/lang--en/index.htm">core principle</a> requires the elimination of forced and compulsory labor within its borders. </p>
<p>The organization also established a <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C029">convention</a> on forced labor in 1930. It makes clear that while governments in some circumstances can use forced labor, the work cannot be “hired or placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations.”</p>
<p>The U.S. is one of only <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:11310:0::NO:11310:P11310_INSTRUMENT_ID:312174:NO">nine</a> countries that have not ratified this convention, putting it in the company of countries like Afghanistan, China and Brunei. The reason often given is that the 13th Amendment already covers forced labor. But as I’ve shown, the question of compensation is an open one. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233964/original/file-20180828-86153-1bdh737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233964/original/file-20180828-86153-1bdh737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233964/original/file-20180828-86153-1bdh737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233964/original/file-20180828-86153-1bdh737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233964/original/file-20180828-86153-1bdh737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233964/original/file-20180828-86153-1bdh737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233964/original/file-20180828-86153-1bdh737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A graffiti artist in Oakland, California, shows solidarity with the strikers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tmcw/43381181935/in/photolist-296rU1F-2ajaJ63-2ana1Tq-2ajVExn-Nis5H3-Nis8Hw-LJmtTZ-2ana1GU-Lz3uV8-7vFjbv-Nis65L-Nis4U9-7HyN9D-f1k4jL-8W1qvj-f1k43J-f9FUHf-f9rNCi-f9FQNE-f9FD5w-f9rJgF-f9rMYH-f9rsQi-2ana233-27FHmzu-6TMD7z-27eT5T5-NiefXh-f9rnpn-f9rDjp-f9rtwM-f9rCAa-LXJ6tk-L8KBkn-M5PSV4-M2NUny-M5PuV2-L8JZbZ-M5Pp8F-LV7PLw-L8JDRr-LXH2VR-M2Nb45-L8xGhm-M5Q9wV-72AQYD-M2PQLJ-LV8uHE-LDbKEw-LXHCyP">Flickr/Tom MacWright</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The strike’s legacy</h2>
<p>The prisoners currently protesting their poor treatment and conditions probably may not expect that it will lead to the end of prison labor. </p>
<p>And whether or not the 13th Amendment or international conventions ultimately limit or end the practice – or at least require fair compensation – will likely depend on the United States Supreme Court.</p>
<p>The real success of the prison strike, set to last through Sept. 9, may be whether consumers become more aware that some of the coffee, clothing and even school supplies they buy may have passed through the hands of inmates, who were paid little to nothing for the work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101948/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruben J. Garcia does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Prisoners in 17 states are striking to call attention to harsh conditions and low pay for their labor, something that may run afoul of the 13th Amendment and other legal commitments.Ruben J. Garcia, Professor of Law, Co-Director of UNLV Workplace Law Program, University of Nevada, Las VegasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/767712018-08-13T10:22:07Z2018-08-13T10:22:07ZWalmart tried to make sustainability affordable. Here’s what happened<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231517/original/file-20180810-2894-1eljuak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Can Walmart go green while maintaining its commitment to low prices?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Tom Uhlman</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What a difference the birth of a granddaughter can make. </p>
<p>For Lee Scott, who ran Walmart from 2000 to 2009, the arrival of his granddaughter not only <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=NZWrBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT32&lpg=PT32&dq=lee+scott+walmart+sustainability+%22granddaughter%22+born&source=bl&ots=v0C2lpjRxW&sig=w0DDA9Vqi8haEptJfVu8-oNYOuA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiG09Si3r_cAhVD6lMKHXHeAscQ6AEwDHoECAMQAQ#v=onepage&q=lee%20scott%20walmart%20sustainability%20%22granddaughter%22%20born&f=false">convinced</a> him the threat of global warming was real but set him on a course that altered the very DNA of the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/global2000/list/#tab:overall">world’s largest retailer</a>. He decided he wanted to use its size and resources to make the world an “even better place for all of us,” changing the way millions shop in the process. </p>
<p>In 2005, midway through his tenure, he challenged his employees: “What would it take for Walmart to be that company, at our best, all the time?” </p>
<p>The answer became Walmart’s <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/sustainability/">sustainability program</a>, an ambitious effort to figure out how to get its budget-conscious customers to buy more sustainable products. Of course, it was more than Scott’s granddaughter that pushed the retailer in this direction. A <a href="https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/wal-mart-the-high-cost-of-low-price/">dismal perception</a> among the public as well as a <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WMT/chart?p=WMT#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%3D">stagnant stock price</a> also played roles in prodding Scott and other Walmart officials to take the company in a more environmentally aware direction. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cvvmqUAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">We</a> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Hyatt5">spent</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125617695287">five years</a> studying the program – speaking with Walmart’s sustainability leaders, its suppliers and others who have a stake in the company’s activities such as environmental groups and farmers. Our findings highlight both the promises and perils of what one Walmart executive optimistically termed the “democratization of sustainability.”</p>
<h2>Glaciers, landfills and shopping bags</h2>
<p>During our extensive research into the implementation of Walmart’s sustainability program, we found many executives from the CEO on down who were passionate about making the company more environmentally friendly. Before the retailer even began its program, corporate executives traversed the globe to better understand what was at stake. </p>
<p>We were told stories of Scott’s summer 2005 trip to the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, where <a href="https://www.mountwashington.org/research-and-product-testing/past-projects/climate-change-and-air-pollutant-impacts-to-new-englands-rare-alpine-zone.aspx">scientists take measurements</a> of the ice and the wind to measure the effects of climate change and air pollution. There he met with Environmental Defense Fund President <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-krupp/walmart-the-awakening-of_b_9253920.html">Fred Krupp</a> and some of the scientists to discuss the company’s environmental impact and what it could be doing differently. On that same trip, he also met with maple syrup farmers who explained how climate change was affecting their harvests. </p>
<p>Other company leaders made trips to parched cotton fields, landfills covered with Walmart shopping bags and melting Arctic glaciers, all with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of sustainability and engaging with environmental groups, journalists and critics.</p>
<p>But it still wasn’t clear where all this was going until August of that year, when <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/hurricane-katrina-8452">Hurricane Katrina</a> hit New Orleans, causing extensive human suffering and property damage along the coast.</p>
<p>Walmart, in an unusual move, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/05/AR2005090501598.html">gave local managers wide discretion</a> in helping communities respond and, along with a few other large retailers, worked hard to get needed supplies to the area. In the context of <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-things-that-have-changed-about-fema-since-katrina-and-5-that-havent-83205">widely reported government failures</a> during the crisis, Walmart <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-scott/how-hurricane-katrina-cha_b_8043692.html">received praise</a> for its actions – a far cry from the usual criticism Scott received from social and political activists. </p>
<p>After Katrina, Scott had an epiphany, which culminated in that <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/executive-viewpoints/twenty-first-century-leadership">speech</a> he made in October 2005 near Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, during which he announced the project: </p>
<p>“What if we used our size and resources to make this country and this earth an even better place for all of us: customers, associates, our children and generations unborn?”</p>
<h2>Seeking sustainability</h2>
<p>In the speech, Scott laid out Walmart’s sustainability vision to Walmart employees and suppliers. He called for reducing waste, using more renewable energy and selling products that “sustained people and the environment.” </p>
<p>In a way, these goals sounded easy. Simply cut down on waste, become more efficient, convince its legions of suppliers to make more sustainable products and sell them at its “low, low prices.” Sustainability goes up, costs go down, everybody wins. But as Scott and his successors learned, this was easier said than done. </p>
<p>Some aspects were relatively straightforward. The company’s efforts to operate more efficiently produced <a href="http://corporate.walmart.com/2017grr/performance-highlights">significant environmental value</a> – and helped its <a href="https://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/10/walmart-to-save-150m-with-sustainability-initiatives-in-fy13/">bottom line</a>. The efficiency of its fleet of trucks doubled within a decade. Walmart <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/2018grr/">has now converted 28 percent</a> of the energy sources powering its stores and operations globally to renewables. </p>
<p>And last year, the <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/2018grr/reducing-waste">company diverted 78 percent</a> of its global waste from landfills, instead finding ways to recycle, reuse or even sell the garbage. Its goal is to eventually get to 50 percent renewables and zero waste in Canada, Japan, the U.K. and U.S. by 2025.</p>
<p>Selling products that “sustained people and the environment” was harder. By 2008, its was clear that progress was not being made as fast as the company had expected. </p>
<p>Walmart had a challenging job. While the <a href="https://www.unilever.com/news/press-releases/2017/report-shows-a-third-of-consumers-prefer-sustainable-brands.html">market</a> for sustainable products is large and growing, it has primarily catered to people with a lot of disposable income <a href="http://www.nielsen.com/eu/en/insights/reports/2015/the-sustainability-imperative.html">who can afford</a> to pay the “goodness” <a href="https://www.luxurysociety.com/en/articles/2018/02/how-luxury-brands-are-practicing-sustainability-creative-ways">premium</a> for things like Toyota Priuses and organic foods. </p>
<p>What about the majority of consumers who usually see the <a href="https://www.sustainabilityconsortium.org/downloads/consumer-science-research-compendium/">high price of sustainability as a barrier</a>? Are sustainable products a luxury good only attainable by the well off? </p>
<p>The questions and challenges of selling sustainable products escalated over time. What is a sustainable product? How could it be measured effectively and efficiently? And how could this information create value for the company and customers? Would people be willing to pay for it if it was impossible to keep the costs down?</p>
<p>Two interconnected challenges it faced are particularly illuminating: the lack of a sustainability standard and how to convince suppliers and customers to go along. </p>
<h2>What’s ‘sustainable’ anyway?</h2>
<p>Walmart leaders quickly learned that the absence of a credible sustainability standard hampered their ability to market new products. </p>
<p>Back then, marketing products as “sustainable” was anything goes. While a few marketing attributes, like “organic,” are <a href="https://www.usda.gov/topics/organic">verified</a> by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for the most part companies were free to call their products “sustainable,” “natural” or “good for you,” regardless of whether it was true or not. </p>
<p>The need for a standard crystallized when Walmart asked suppliers for proposals for a <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2008/04/21/wal-mart-consumer-behavior-shows-buying-green-is-going-mainstream">2008 Earth Day promotion</a>. It wanted to specifically promote products that were sustainable. Suppliers responded with such a vast range of claims that Walmart managers could not figure out which products to include. Examples of traits that made a product “sustainable” ranged from having “reduced” packaging material – though there was no gauge as to what it was reduced from – to the use of non-toxic ingredients or the product’s overall recyclability. </p>
<p>A subsequent promotion of Campbell’s soup with a green “Earth Day” label (instead of its customary red one) generated external criticism and accusations of “greenwashing.” That is, some <a href="https://thewashcycle.wordpress.com/2009/04/13/campbell%E2%80%99s-is-going-green-or-are-they%E2%80%A6/">bloggers</a> claimed sustainability at Walmart simply meant taking existing products and putting green labels on them.</p>
<p>Lessons like these led Walmart to seek a way of defining what sustainable means for all its products – a mammoth scale given that the company had over 60,000 direct suppliers and a single store could sell about <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2005/01/07/our-retail-divisions">142,000 products</a>. So, in 2009, the company helped establish the <a href="https://www.sustainabilityconsortium.org/">Sustainability Consortium</a>, a collaboration of retailers, suppliers, universities, environmental groups and others to create a data-driven index of sustainability.</p>
<p>The consortium would eventually produce a sustainability “toolkit” with key performance indicators and guidance for achieving sustainability at the product category level whether these be laundry care products, computers or beer. </p>
<p>Such indicators could then be used by consortium members in communications with their suppliers, typically in a sustainability scorecard that the supplier would complete. For instance, a manufacturer might be asked if it had plans for reducing harmful emissions – and if it didn’t, the thinking initially went, this type of information could eventually be passed on to consumers who could then make their own judgments.</p>
<p>The problem was, relying on customers didn’t work.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231584/original/file-20180812-2909-r28tvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Getting its budget-conscious customers to choose sustainable products was one of Walmart’s biggest challenges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Images for Walmart/Gunnar Rathbun</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Focusing on suppliers – not consumers</h2>
<p>Most corporate efforts to become more sustainable are based on the premise that <a href="https://ashtonmanufacturing.com.au/66-of-consumers-willing-to-pay-more-for-sustainable-goods-nielsen-report-reveals/">consumers are willing</a> to pay more for eggs that are organic or coffee that is sustainably sourced. </p>
<p>This posed a dilemma for Walmart since its margins are so thin and most of its customers shop there for the ultra-low prices. How could they be convinced, en masse, to pay a bit more because something is tagged as sustainable? And what would be the best way to let them know a particular product was more sustainable than another? Company leaders believed, based on internal surveys, that although its customers desired (or would in the future desire) more sustainable products, many did not have the means or desire to pay extra. </p>
<p>And while Walmart’s implementation of sustainability metrics into its supplier scorecards gave it insight into supplier practices, they did not provide detailed, verifiable information required for a customer-facing label.</p>
<p>This led Walmart to focus less on consumers and more on suppliers. If it could just make sure its products were more sustainable or at least that it was able to offer more options – without a meaningful increase in price – it could go a long way toward achieving its goals. And consumers wouldn’t even realize they’re helping make the world a better place. </p>
<p>Walmart’s merchants were ready to listen. The supplier scorecards that started rolling in 2012 helped Walmart identify inefficiencies in its supplies’ own supply chains, just as the retailer had found in its own operations years earlier. Walmart used them to push suppliers to seek out similar low-cost innovations in their operations – so they could become more sustainable without altering product price tags – and aligned 5 percent of its employees’ performance goals on sustainability improvements, thus incentivizing buyers to ask about, and suppliers to report on, sustainability metrics. </p>
<p>Early indications are that Walmart’s supplier-focused product sustainability strategy has been influential. A 2014 <a href="http://purestrategies.com/downloads/the-path-to-product-sustainability">study</a> by sustainability consultancy Pure Strategies surveyed a broad range of 100 companies such as Timberland, General Mills and Coca-Cola to better understand what it takes to operate sustainably. It found that Walmart was the top-cited retailer driving suppliers’ investments in product sustainability, with 79 percent identifying the retailer as influential. </p>
<h2>It’s ‘complicated’</h2>
<p>Many of the primary lessons that Walmart has learned so far relate to an emergent understanding of the complexity of selling low-cost sustainable products.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229464/original/file-20180726-106511-ug5gwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Walmart Chairman Rob Walton.‘</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Walmart-Shareholders-Meeting/0197bc33de7440539e20c974b65a96a6/5/0">AP Photo/Gareth Patterson</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Commenting about the difficulty developing its sustainability index quickly, Rob Walton, Walmart chairman and son of the founder, <a href="http://fortune.com/2012/04/17/wal-mart-chairman-how-we-came-to-embrace-sustainability/">told a panel</a> in 2012: “But good gosh, this is really complicated stuff, and it’s giving our buyers information to inform decisions and compare products. It will be a great day when we can give consumers that information.”</p>
<p>Walmart’s efforts showed that balancing cost and sustainability is possible but difficult to implement. For companies, labeling a low-cost product as “sustainable” makes it harder to justify charging a higher price for a similar good that bears that label. And retailers would prefer not to waste limited shelf space providing those options.</p>
<p>Customers may <a href="https://www.unilever.com/news/press-releases/2017/report-shows-a-third-of-consumers-prefer-sustainable-brands.html">prefer</a> sustainable practices yet be unable to pay the premium, even when it’s very little. So, while Walmart can push in this direction, it probably cannot create a mass market for low-cost sustainable products on its own. The retailer and others who wish to develop such a market will likely continue to struggle with what counts as “sustainable enough” for price-conscious customers. </p>
<p>Until that question is answered, sustainable products are likely to remain “luxury” goods that fail to penetrate into the mainstream.</p>
<p>But if we care for the next generation, as Lee Scott did when he decided Walmart was going green, Walmart’s goal of bringing greater scale and scope to the typically niche market of sustainability is a vital one. </p>
<p>“As you become a grandparent,” Scott <a href="https://grist.org/article/griscom-little3/">told a journalist</a> in 2006, “you just become more thoughtful about what will the world look like that she inherits.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Graham Hyatt is affiliated with the University of Arkansas, which in partnership with Arizona State, founded the Sustainability Consortium with a lead gift from Walmart. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Spicer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two business professors spent five years studying Walmart’s ambition project to bring sustainability to its millions of budget-conscious customers – a plan that began with the birth of a granddaughter.Andrew Spicer, Associate Professor of International Business, University of South CarolinaDavid Graham Hyatt, Research Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management, University of ArkansasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1003032018-07-24T22:56:24Z2018-07-24T22:56:24ZWhy you shouldn’t be a ‘straw-man’ environmentalist<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228655/original/file-20180720-142420-1l0f4nc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Eurasian Coot sits on a nest built from human litter, including plastic straws, inside a half-sunk boat in an Amsterdam canal.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The “straw bubble” has burst. </p>
<p>We’re midway through 2018, and we have seen an explosion of efforts and local action to eliminate plastic straws. Some of the world’s largest companies, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-clean-up-our-universal-plastic-tragedy-98565">McDonald’s</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44774762">Starbucks</a>, have banned them from some of their operations.</p>
<p>McDonald’s announced recently that it would <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-44492352">replace plastic straws with paper ones in all restaurants in the U.K. and Ireland by September 2018</a>. Similarly, Starbucks will <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44774762">eliminate plastic straws from all of its stores globally by 2020</a>. </p>
<p>Airlines, hotel chains and local restaurants in droves are all removing the ubiquitous plastic from their consumer services.</p>
<p>Dramatic and evocative statements and statistics, including the infamous “<a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/02/will-plastic-really-outweigh-fish-ocean-2050">plastic will outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050</a>” prophecy, are inciting some incredible interventions from governments, large multinationals and individual citizens. Although these kinds of statements <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-all-marine-fish-eat-plastics-99488">may not be entirely accurate</a>, the overwhelming response has been the removal of straws from day-to-day society.</p>
<h2>Anti-straw backlash</h2>
<p>Along with these recent “anti-straw” endeavours, there comes an accompanying “anti-anti-straw” rhetoric that opposes such interventions on various grounds. </p>
<p>For instance, disability rights activists have weighed in on the plastic-straw ban. Some people with disabilities need straws to drink because they have trouble swallowing or cannot lift or hold a cup. </p>
<p>A plethora of alternatives to plastic straws exist to provide practical solutions, including silicone, paper and stainless steel. Ultimately, this means all consumers have an ethical choice to make: <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/planetorplastic/">planet or plastic</a>?</p>
<p>We don’t contest the importance of accessibility, which is why we do not argue in favour of an absolute outright ban on straws. Rather, we believe that “<a href="https://themighty.com/2018/05/review-reusable-drinking-straws-disability/">having a disability and doing your part to help the environment are not mutually exclusive</a>.”</p>
<p>The anti-anti-straw arguments we take issue with are often either libertarian (hands off my straws) or pessimistic (this does not address the root cause of the problem) in nature. Some of these arguments are a mix of both.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beyond-our-oceans-microplastics-pollute-rivers-and-lakes-too-94559">Beyond our oceans: Microplastics pollute rivers and lakes too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>A <a href="https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/terence-corcoran-the-best-defence-against-plastic-pollution-that-catherine-mckenna-will-hate?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1531311622">slew of journalists and writers</a> have recently put forward <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/society/environment/why-a-ban-on-plastic-straws-sucks/">counter-arguments</a> to interventions seeking to reduce ocean plastics. They write that targeting straws specifically will not make a significant difference to the ocean. </p>
<p>Quantitatively, sure, straws make up a small portion of the plastics that enter and contaminate the ocean (<a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-04-science-amount-straws-plastic-pollution.html">roughly four per cent of litter</a>). This does not mean, however, that straws aren’t worth addressing. </p>
<p>Why is a targeted effort towards four per cent of marine litter being attacked as useless or ineffective, when the posited alternative is no effort at all?</p>
<h2>Target “gateway plastic”</h2>
<p>Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup’s annual <a href="http://www.wwf.ca/newsroom/?uNewsID=27401">Dirty Dozen list</a> highlights the items most commonly found on <a href="https://www.shorelinecleanup.ca/">marine and freshwater shores</a>. Straws rank ninth, below cigarette butts, food packaging, bottle caps and plastic bags. </p>
<p>Other <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X16300665#f0015">studies have found similar contributions to marine litter from plastic straws</a>. The <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/25513/state_plastics_WED.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">UNEP 2018 State of Plastics report</a> also ranks straws and stirrers in seventh place for plastics found in the environment. </p>
<p>However, these other plastics require an entirely different approach to mitigating their entry into the environment. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228652/original/file-20180720-142432-1vln2sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228652/original/file-20180720-142432-1vln2sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228652/original/file-20180720-142432-1vln2sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228652/original/file-20180720-142432-1vln2sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228652/original/file-20180720-142432-1vln2sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228652/original/file-20180720-142432-1vln2sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228652/original/file-20180720-142432-1vln2sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Starbucks’ new lid features a teardrop-shaped opening about the size of a thumbprint. Its design has helped the company promise to go straw-less.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://news.starbucks.com/news/starbucks-announces-environmental-milestone">(Starbucks)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Should we focus on an outright ban on cigarettes with the same vigour as we have straws? Can we vilify single-use plastic bottle beverage industry players in the same manner? </p>
<p>Presumably, those who are anti-anti-straw would respond accordingly, if not an order of magnitude greater, to these kinds of petitions.</p>
<h2>War on straws</h2>
<p>Dune Ives, the executive director of the Lonely Whale Foundation, <a href="https://www.globalwildlife.org/2017/10/19/the-gateway-plastic/">has called straws “the gateway plastic”</a> for those on the verge of environmentalism. For example, something as mundane or “playful” as a straw can open up a larger, more serious conversation about plastic pollution, or global mass consumption even more broadly. </p>
<p>This point is both the crux of the “war on straws” and the crucial piece moving forward in the overall endeavour to reduce marine plastic pollution: <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-break-up-with-plastics-using-behavioural-science-99741">changing the norm</a>. </p>
<p>Comparisons may also be made with plastic bag bans. For example, many <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X17301650">countries and jurisdictions around the world have successfully implemented plastic bag bans or taxes</a> to reduce plastic environmental pollution. </p>
<p>Like plastic straws, some groups suggest <a href="https://uspirg.org/reports/usf/trash-america">that because plastic bags are ultra-lightweight, they likely make negligible contributions to municipal waste</a>. These groups also claim that banning plastic bags is more about appearances and idealism than about protecting the environment. However, like plastic bag bans, the concept of eliminating or replacing single-use plastic (SUP) straws requires a revolution in consumer mentality.</p>
<h2>Changing habits</h2>
<p>There is no radical extreme call to immediately stop the production of plastic products. Indeed, <a href="https://theconversation.com/plastic-free-campaigns-dont-have-to-shock-or-shame-shoppers-are-already-on-board-98944">shaming plastic use has been seen as an ineffective way</a> to get more people on board. </p>
<p>Plastics are imperative in many contexts, including sterile packaging and disposable tools in medicine, reducing food spoilage and increasing food safety. The movement to remove SUP straws, or even bags, should consider these nuances, but it is far from destroying the foundation of modern society. </p>
<p>With about <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/768">eight million to 12 million metric tonnes of plastic entering our oceans each year</a>, there is an urgent need to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X17309967">address our pervasive plastic problem</a>. </p>
<p>We need a broad-scale and widespread approach that questions our throw-away culture, and the overwhelming trend to buy more, buy bigger and buy more often. Avoiding the use of a plastic straw may seem trivial, but it counts. </p>
<p>It may seem like a drop in the ocean, but what is an ocean anyway but many, many, drops?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100303/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Riley Schnurr receives funding from WWF-Canada through the Sobey Fund for Oceans. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Robert Walker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fast-food restaurants and coffee shops are banishing the straw. While it may seem like a small measure, your pessimism isn’t justified.Riley Schnurr, Graduate Student, Dalhousie UniversityTony Robert Walker, Assistant Professor, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/996162018-07-10T15:14:00Z2018-07-10T15:14:00ZWho is more powerful – states or corporations?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226745/original/file-20180709-122265-iolpwb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">World party. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/world-conference-business-meeting-eight-seat-53537059?src=WRHu4vXWG3vatTyd9rHDIA-1-0">ktsdesign</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Who holds the power in international politics? Most people would probably say it’s the largest states in the global system. The current landscape of international relations seems to affirm this intuition: new <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23340460.2015.960184">Russian geopolitics</a>, “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trumps-foreign-policy-puts-america-first/">America First</a>” and <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/china-lead-globalization-after-united-states/">Chinese</a> state-led global expansion, among others, seem to put state power back in charge after decades of globalisation. </p>
<p>Yet multinationals like Apple and Starbucks still wield phenomenal power. They oversee huge supply chains, sell products all over the world, and <a href="http://fortune.com/2018/04/25/apple-tim-cook-trump-trade-war/">help mould</a> international <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Political+Power+of+Global+Corporations-p-9780745698458">politics</a> to their interests. In some respects, multinationals have governments at their beck and call – witness their <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-buck-stops-elsewhere-how-corporate-power-trumps-politics-41992">consistent success</a> at dodging tax payments. So when it comes to international politics, are states really calling the shots?</p>
<p>We compare states and corporations based on how deep their pockets are. The following table ranks the 100 largest corporations and countries on the basis of their revenues in 2016. Revenues in the case of states is mainly collected taxes. </p>
<p>States occupy the top rankings, with the US first followed by China and Japan (the eurozone ranks first with more than US$5,600 billion if we treat it as a single political entity). But plenty of corporations are on par with some of the largest economies in the world: Walmart exceeds Spain and Australia, for example. Of the top 100 revenue generators, our ranking shows 71 are corporations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226707/original/file-20180709-122268-pnm2se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226707/original/file-20180709-122268-pnm2se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226707/original/file-20180709-122268-pnm2se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226707/original/file-20180709-122268-pnm2se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226707/original/file-20180709-122268-pnm2se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226707/original/file-20180709-122268-pnm2se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226707/original/file-20180709-122268-pnm2se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226707/original/file-20180709-122268-pnm2se.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1058&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Authors’ calculation based on Forbes Fortune Global 500 list 2017 and.
CIA World Factbook 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fichtner/Babic/Heeskerk</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Notice also that the top ranked corporations follow the same nationality-order as states: America’s Walmart is followed by three Chinese firms. There are already 14 Chinese firms in the top 100, though the US has 27. </p>
<p>Our comparison is necessarily crude, but suggests that besides the very largest states, the economic power of corporations and states is essentially on par. This prompted us to try and rethink corporate power in international politics in a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03932729.2017.1389151">recent paper</a>. We argued that globalisation has brought about a global structure in which state power is not the exclusive governing principle anymore. </p>
<p>Just think about the private and public power of global giants like Google or Apple. When Donald Trump <a href="http://fortune.com/2018/04/25/apple-tim-cook-trump-trade-war/">recently met</a> Apple chief executive Tim Cook to discuss how a trade war with China would affect Apple’s interests, it demonstrated that the leading multinationals are political actors, not bystanders. </p>
<p>There always existed big and powerful global corporations – the <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/europe/the-netherlands/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-dutch-east-india-company/">Dutch East India Company</a> dominated European trade in the 1600s and 1700s, for instance. But global corporations’ current power position vis-à-vis other actors is unprecedented in terms of sheer size and volume.</p>
<h2>How global power works</h2>
<p>State power did not disappear with globalisation, but it transformed. It now competes with corporations for influence and political power. States use corporations and vice versa, as the following two examples illustrate: offshore finance and transnational state-owned enterprises. </p>
<p>To start with offshore finance, global corporations use different jurisdictions to avoid being taxed or regulated in their home country. Lost taxes due to profit shifting <a href="https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/03/22/new-estimates-tax-avoidance-multinationals/">could be</a> as high as US$500 billion globally. When states position themselves as tax havens, they undermine the ability of “onshore” states to tax corporations and wealthy individuals – a cornerstone of state power. </p>
<p>Besides tax havens, numerous EU governments have become notorious for offering “<a href="https://www.somo.nl/eus-secret-sweetheart-tax-deals-with-multinational-corporations-soar-to-record-numbers/">sweetheart deals</a>” that reduce the tax burden for specific multinationals to an astonishing extent. Also, our <a href="http://corpnet.uva.nl">CORPNET</a> research group at the University of Amsterdam recently <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06322-9">identified</a> five countries <a href="https://theconversation.com/these-five-countries-are-conduits-for-the-worlds-biggest-tax-havens-79555">who play</a> an important additional role in facilitating tax avoidance: the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland and Singapore. Each enables multinationals to shift investments at minimum cost between tax havens and onshore states. </p>
<p>Turning to our second example, states have grown as global corporate owners in recent years. They <a href="http://www.toknowpress.net/ISBN/978-961-6914-13-0/papers/ML15-353.pdf">now control</a> almost one quarter of the Fortune Global 500. By investing in state-owned enterprises beyond their borders, states gain strategic leverage vis-à-vis other states or actors – Russia’s <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/21/nord-stream-2-ukraine-concerned-russia-could-attack-its-gas-pipeline-analyst-says.html">gas pipeline holdings</a> via Gazprom in eastern Europe are a good example. This has led some observers to <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/state-capitalism-9780199385706?cc=nl&lang=en&">diagnose</a> a potential transformation of the liberal world order through “state capitalism”. </p>
<p>The below diagram shows the aggregated numbers of transnational state-owned enterprises or TSOEs owned by each country. The nodes represent states as owners: the bigger and darker a node, the more companies it owns outside its borders (click on the picture if you want to make it bigger). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226724/original/file-20180709-122280-nurlha.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226724/original/file-20180709-122280-nurlha.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226724/original/file-20180709-122280-nurlha.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226724/original/file-20180709-122280-nurlha.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226724/original/file-20180709-122280-nurlha.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226724/original/file-20180709-122280-nurlha.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226724/original/file-20180709-122280-nurlha.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226724/original/file-20180709-122280-nurlha.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Authors’ illustration based on data from Bureau van Dijk’s ORBIS database.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">https://www.bvdinfo.com/nl-nl/our-products/company-information/international-products/orbis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Notice the paramount position of China (CN), which controls over 1,000 TSOEs, including the likes of Sinopec and ICBC China. Countries like France (FR) and Germany (DE) are also prominent owners, but their connections to China highlight that they are targets of TSOE investment, too. </p>
<p>It starts to become apparent that international relations are anything but a one-sided story of either state or corporate power. Globalisation has changed the rules of the game, empowering corporations but bringing back state power through new transnational state-corporate relations. International relations has become a giant three-dimensional chess game with states and corporations as intertwined actors. </p>
<p>This transformation of the global environment is probably here to stay and even accelerate. Washington <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-zte/u-s-ban-on-sales-to-chinas-zte-opens-fresh-front-as-tensions-escalate-idUSKBN1HN1P1">recently blocked</a> the large Chinese telecommunications manufacturer ZTE from access to critical American suppliers, for example. It did this to gain advantage in trade negotiations with Beijing. The Chinese Sovereign Wealth Fund then <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-14/china-wealth-fund-sells-out-of-blackstone-stake-held-since-ipo">withdrew</a> its longstanding investment in the American Blackstone Group following Trump’s push for economic sanctions on China. </p>
<p>We live in an era where the interplay between state and corporate power shapes the reality of international relations more than ever. In combination with the current nationalist and protectionist backlash in large parts of the world, this may yet lead to a revival of global rivalries: states using corporations to achieve geopolitical goals in an increasingly hostile environment, and powerful corporations perhaps using more aggressive strategies to extract profits in response. If this is where we’re heading, it could have a lasting impact on the world order.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99616/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Milan Babic receives funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eelke Heemskerk receives funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jan Fichtner receives funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.</span></em></p>Walmart is bigger than Spain, Berkshire Hathaway is bigger than Russia. It could be time to rethink international relations.Milan Babic, Doctoral Researcher, University of AmsterdamEelke Heemskerk, Associate Professor Political Science, University of AmsterdamJan Fichtner, Postdoctoral Researcher in Political Science, University of AmsterdamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/986842018-06-21T10:27:15Z2018-06-21T10:27:15ZCorporate CEOs’ political voice growing louder as they criticize Trump policies like separating migrant children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224135/original/file-20180621-137741-1d0kkco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children wait at a private charity after being released by Customs and Border Protection.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Eric Gay</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>America’s CEOs have become increasingly active on political issues that they would have shunned in prior years.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-20/american-asks-u-s-not-to-put-detained-children-on-its-flights">latest example</a> came in response to the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” border enforcement policy that led to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/breaking-up-families-america-looks-like-a-dickens-novel-98660">forced separation</a> of several thousand immigrant children from their <a href="https://theconversation.com/forced-migration-from-central-america-5-essential-reads-98600">detained parents</a>. United Continental CEO Oscar Munoz called the policy “in deep conflict with our company’s values.” </p>
<p>United and fellow airlines <a href="http://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2018/Statement-on-Recent-Reports-of-Separated-Families/default.aspx">American</a>, Southwest and <a href="https://twitter.com/FlyFrontier/status/1009488027985596416">Frontier</a> each indicated they didn’t want the government to use their planes to fly separated children. President Donald Trump hoped to quell the furor over the issue by signing an executive order <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-executive-order.html">ending the separations</a>.</p>
<p>It’s certainly not the first time corporate CEOs took a stand against a Trump policy or his words. After the president’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/us/politics/trump-press-conference-charlottesville.html">contentious response</a> to violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, CEO resignations and <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/08/17/ceos-trump-charlottesville-criticized">denunciations</a> led to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2017/08/16/after-wave-of-ceo-departures-trump-ends-business-and-manufacturing-councils/">dissolution</a> of two White House advisory councils.</p>
<p>While Trump’s actions likely sparked this increase in political activism by corporate CEOs, its roots run deeper and will survive beyond the end of the current administration.</p>
<h2>From custom abiders to bullies</h2>
<p>When I first began studying the interactions between social movements and corporations in the 1990s, it was rare to see business take a public stand on social issues. Yet today we see organizations ranging from General Electric to the NCAA <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/major-corporations-join-fight-against-north-carolina-s-bathroom-bill-n605976">weighing in</a> on, for example, transgender rights, something hard to imagine even a decade ago.</p>
<p>Traditionally, corporations aimed to be scrupulously neutral on social issues. No one doubted that corporations exercised power, but it was over bread-and-butter economic issues like trade and taxes, not social issues. There seemed little to be gained by activism on potentially divisive issues, particularly for consumer brands. </p>
<p>A watershed of the civil rights movement, for example, was the <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2095077">1960 sit-in protest by students that began at a segregated lunch counter</a> in a Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina, and spread across the South. Woolworth’s corporate policy had been to “abide by local custom” and keep black and white patrons separated. By supporting the status quo, Woolworth and others like it stood in the way of progress.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139327/original/image-20160926-31842-15nz195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139327/original/image-20160926-31842-15nz195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139327/original/image-20160926-31842-15nz195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139327/original/image-20160926-31842-15nz195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139327/original/image-20160926-31842-15nz195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139327/original/image-20160926-31842-15nz195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139327/original/image-20160926-31842-15nz195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When the Greensboro Four launched their sit-in protest, companies tended to stay neutral on social issues.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A%26T_four_statue_2000.jpg">Cewatkin via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But negative publicity led to substantial lost business, and Woolworth eventually relented. In July, four months after the protest started – and after the students had gone home for the summer – the manager of the <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/the-greensboro-sit-in">Greensboro store</a> quietly integrated his lunch counter.</p>
<p>In general, companies were more worried about the costs of taking a more liberal stand on such issues, a point basketball legend and Nike pitchman Michael Jordan made succinctly in 1990. Asked to support Democrat Harvey Gantt’s campaign to replace segregationist incumbent Jesse Helms as a North Carolina senator, Jordan declined, reportedly saying “<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2016/07/did_michael_jordan_really_say_republicans_buy_sneakers_too.html">Republicans buy sneakers, too</a>.”</p>
<p>And companies presumed that taking controversial positions would lead to boycotts by those on the other side. That’s what happened to Walt Disney in 1996 as a result of its early support for gay rights, such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Days_at_Walt_Disney_World">“Gay Day”</a> at its theme parks. Its stand prompted groups including America’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptists, to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/US/9706/18/baptists.disney/">launch a boycott</a>, calling Disney’s support for gay rights an “anti-Christian and anti-family direction.” The <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8318263/ns/us_news/t/southern-baptists-end--year-disney-boycott/">eight-year boycott</a>, however, was notably ineffective at changing Disney policy. It turns out that too few parents had the heart to deny their children Disney products to make a boycott effective. </p>
<p>Since then, some of the biggest U.S. companies have taken similar stands, in spite of the reaction from conservatives. For example, when the Arkansas legislature passed a bill in March 2015 that would have enabled LGBT discrimination on the grounds of “religious freedom,” <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-walmart-arkansas-analysis-idUSKBN0MT13E20150402">the CEO of Walmart urged the governor to veto the bill</a>. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, given Walmart’s status in the state and the corporate backlash that accompanied a similar law in Indiana, the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/01/govt-and-business-leaders-object-to-ark-religion-bill/70757942/">governor obliged</a> and eventually signed a <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/31/politics/arkansas-religious-freedom-anti-lgbt-bill/">modified bill</a>. That didn’t sit well with former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, however, who <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/opinion/bobby-jindal-im-holding-firm-against-gay-marriage.html">argued in The New York Times</a> that companies in those states were joining “left-wing activists to bully elected officials into backing away from strong protections for religious liberty.” He warned companies against “bullying” Louisiana.</p>
<p>Why have corporations shifted from “abiding local custom” around segregation and other divisive social issues to “bullying elected officials” to support LGBT rights?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183830/original/file-20170829-6653-za65f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183830/original/file-20170829-6653-za65f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183830/original/file-20170829-6653-za65f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183830/original/file-20170829-6653-za65f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183830/original/file-20170829-6653-za65f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183830/original/file-20170829-6653-za65f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183830/original/file-20170829-6653-za65f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Merck CEO Ken Frazier, seated next to Trump, was the first to resign from a manufacturing council after Charlottesville.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Evan Vucci</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Changing environment</h2>
<p>In my view, there are two broad changes responsible for this increased corporate social activism.</p>
<p>First, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Changing-Your-Company-Inside-Intrapreneurs/dp/1422185095/ref=asap_bc">social media and the web have changed the environment for business</a> by making it cheaper and easier for activists to join together to voice their opinions and by making corporate activities more transparent. </p>
<p>The rapid spread of the Occupy movement in the fall of 2011, from Zuccotti Park in New York to encampments across the country, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/occupy-wall-street-social-media_n_999178.html">illustrates</a> how social media can enable groups with a compelling message to scale up quickly. Sometimes even online-only movements can be highly effective.</p>
<p>When the Susan G. Komen Foundation cut off funds to Planned Parenthood that were aimed at supporting breast cancer screenings for low-income women, a pop-up social movement arose: Facebook and Twitter exploded with <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/us/komen-foundation-urged-to-restore-planned-parenthood-funds.html">millions of posts and tweets voicing opposition</a>. Within days the policy was walked back.</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/04/what-matters-about-mozilla-employees-led-the-coup/">Mozilla’s appointment of a new CEO</a> who had supported a California ballot proposal banning same-sex marriage also generated outrage online, both inside and outside the organization. He was gone within two weeks. </p>
<p>In each case, social media allowed like-minded “clicktivists” to draw attention to an issue and demonstrate their support for change, quickly and at very little cost. It’s never been cheaper to assemble a virtual protest group, and sometimes (as in the massive <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/us/womens-march.html?mcubz=1&_r=0">Women’s March</a> that took place in cities around the world the day after Trump’s inauguration) online tools enable real-world protest. As such, activism is likely to be a constant for corporations in the future.</p>
<h2>Millennials don’t like puffery</h2>
<p>A second change is that millennials, as consumers and workers, <a href="http://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_new_face_of_corporate_activism">are highly attuned</a> to a company’s “social value proposition.” </p>
<p>Companies targeting the sensibilities of the young often tout their social missions. <a href="http://www.toms.com/improving-lives">Tom’s Shoes</a> and <a href="https://www.warbyparker.com/buy-a-pair-give-a-pair">Warby Parker</a> both have “buy a pair, give a pair” programs. Chipotle highlights its <a href="https://chipotle.com/food-with-integrity">sustainability efforts</a>. And Starbucks has promoted fair trade coffee, marriage equality and racial justice <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3046890/the-inside-story-of-starbuckss-race-together-campaign-no-foam">more or less successfully</a>. In each case, transparency about corporate practices serves as a check on puffery. </p>
<p>Social mission is even more important when it comes to recruiting. At business school recruiting events, it is almost obligatory that <a href="http://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_new_face_of_corporate_activism">companies describe</a> their LEED-certified workplaces, LGBT-friendly human resource practices and community outreach efforts. </p>
<p>Moreover, our employer signals something about our identity. Value alignment is part of why people stay at their job, and among many millennials, socially progressive values – particularly around LGBT issues – are almost a given.</p>
<p>In this situation, corporate activism may be the sensible course of action, at least when it comes to LGBT issues. According to the <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2016/05/12/changing-attitudes-on-gay-marriage/">Pew Research Center</a>, for example, support for same-sex marriage has doubled from 31 percent in 2004 to 62 percent in 2017, and there is little reason to expect a reversal. </p>
<h2>Red and blue companies?</h2>
<p>While prominent companies like Starbucks and Target have taken stances associated with liberal causes, some businesses have gone the other direction. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mo-chick-fil-a-gay-20120718-story.html">Chick-fil-A aimed to implement</a> “biblical values” and supported anti-gay groups in the 2000s. Those groups returned the favor by encouraging like-minded people to dine there on “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/us-news-blog/2012/aug/01/chick-fil-a-appreciation-day">Chick-fil-A appreciation day</a>.”</p>
<p>Hobby Lobby <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/07/10/after-hobby-lobby-ruling-hhs-announces-birth-control-workaround">famously sought to abstain</a> from providing funding for birth control for employees on religious grounds. Koch Industries, overseen by the famous Koch brothers, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/4/1/1288957/-Sign-the-pledge-Don-t-buy-these-Koch-products">has long been a lightning rod</a> for boycotts due to the right-wing proclivities of its dominant owners. And small businesses across the country are not always shy in advertising their conservative political orientations. </p>
<p>As <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9030.html">states have seemingly divided</a> into red (for conservative) and blue (for liberal), might we expect the same thing from corporations, as consumers and employees drift toward the brands that best represent their views – red companies and blue companies? </p>
<p><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php">It is already easy to look up</a> political contributions by companies and their employees. For example, Bloomberg, Alphabet and the Pritzker Group lean Democratic; Oracle, Chevron and AT&T tend Republican. </p>
<p>In the current electoral climate, it is not hard to imagine this continuing. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-did-che-guevara-become-ceo-the-roots-of-the-new-corporate-activism-64203">article originally published</a> on Sept. 27, 2016.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98684/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jerry Davis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>United’s CEO called the Trump policy ‘in deep conflict’ with his company’s values, the latest example of a corporate leader speaking out on a political issue, something almost unheard of a few decades ago.Jerry Davis, Professor of Management and Sociology, Ross School of Business, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/974962018-05-30T20:26:32Z2018-05-30T20:26:32ZWhy ABC reacted so swiftly to Roseanne’s racist tweet<p>ABC Entertainment, which produced the revamped version of “Roseanne,” is the latest company to learn the challenge of doing business in an age when citizen activism is amplified by social media. </p>
<p>The network <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/business/media/roseanne-barr-offensive-tweets.html">canceled</a> the hit show after its star, Roseanne Barr, sent a <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/roseanne-ambien-defense_us_5b0e471ae4b0802d69cf87b9">racist tweet</a> – since deleted – that prompted outrage and a <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/29/roseanne-abc-canceled-boycotts-trump-611593">potential ad boycott</a>. Other networks have chosen to <a href="https://www.axios.com/cmt-tv-land-paramount-network-dropping-roseanne-reruns-racists-tweets-bdbe853b-b474-4433-9d6b-72f604df7d85.html">axe</a> reruns of the original “Roseanne.” </p>
<p>While ABC’s swift decision stunned observers, it suggests companies are learning from recent PR stumbles by the likes of <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/11/travel/united-customer-dragged-off-overbooked-flight/index.html">United Airlines</a> and <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/consumers-lash-out-at-uber-and-turn-to-lyft-after-ubers-immigration-response-2017-01-29">Uber</a>. Incidents that not so long ago would have been relatively isolated are inflaming public sentiment at a breathtaking pace, catching companies wrong-footed and significantly raising the stakes of such missteps.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JpFHYKcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">my research</a> into online social networks shows, these incidents illustrate the challenges for companies in dealing with the fallout of bad publicity as social media amplifies both the reach and range of responses available to concerned individuals.</p>
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<h2>A massive shift</h2>
<p>Social activism has fundamentally shifted in the age of social media. </p>
<p>In United’s case, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrDWY6C1178">videos</a> showing security forcibly removing a passenger from a flight in April 2017 went viral before the plane had even taken off. It <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/11/travel/united-customer-dragged-off-overbooked-flight/index.html">sparked a furor</a> that caused United’s stock to drop and its CEO to apologize several times and <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-united-apology-20170412-story.html">refund the fares</a> of every passenger on the flight. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/consumers-lash-out-at-uber-and-turn-to-lyft-after-ubers-immigration-response-2017-01-29">Uber faced a similar PR crisis</a> after it appeared to align itself with President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/27/executive-order-protecting-nation-foreign-terrorist-entry-united-states">refugee ban</a>. <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/2/14493760/delete-uber-protest-donald-trump-accounts-deleted">At least 200,000 people</a> removed Uber apps from their phones. </p>
<p>The main difference between what happened to ABC, United or Uber today and what would have happened 20 years ago is the speed, scale and spread of digital activism. </p>
<p>Back then, people would not have the means to either raise awareness or mobilize for a cause at this speed and scale. Outrage over the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, for example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Shipping_Co._v._Baker">eventually led</a> to an award of millions of dollars in damages, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/01/us/exxon-valdez-the-spill-the-cleanup-and-the-charges.html">but it took months</a> for the scale of disaster to become clear and years of protracted negotiations. </p>
<p>In contrast, today’s companies that make PR mistakes face substantial damage within hours of the incidents, resulting in boycotts and <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/12/shares-of-united-fall-for-second-day-as-controversy-lingers.html">spooked investors</a>. </p>
<p>While some commentators say this <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2017/04/11/united-passenger-dragged-uber-blames-bad-pr-what-to-do-when-the-hits-keep-coming/#2b4284c435bf">reveals a crisis in public relations management</a>, the truth is social media’s fast pace is putting incredible demands on PR professionals.</p>
<h2>How activism goes viral</h2>
<p>There are two main mechanisms that are influential in shaping the virality of digital activism. </p>
<p>The first one involves how social media platforms like Twitter provide a leading opinion-making role to a few key – and connected – individuals, amplifying their voices and allowing videos and memes to spread. For example, the viral #DeleteUber campaign began with a <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2017/01/31/the-viral-deleteuber-campaign-began-with-a-single-tweet-from-a-chicago-journalist">single tweet from a Chicago journalist</a> named Dan O'Sullivan. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://5harad.com/papers/diffusion.pdf">study of online social interactions</a> showed that a small set of “seed” users (with lots of followers) account for a disproportionately large share of viral phenomenon on social media. In other words, all it takes is a few retweets by celebrities or news personalities with sizable followings to share almost instantly a “call to arms” with thousands if not millions of users, many of whom will also retweet the video or hashtag. </p>
<p>The second mechanism involves how social media amplifies the visibility of viral phenomenon by turning more individuals into opinion-makers as they easily engage with others like them – which is known as homophily, or a preference for like-minded others. </p>
<p>The resulting activism spirals into a large-scale online movement that is impossible for companies to ignore. In a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07421222.2016.1172454?journalCode=mmis20">paper</a> I co-authored with business professors Yong Tan of the University of Washington and Cath Oh of Georgia State University, we documented how online conversations accomplish this.</p>
<p>As I found in <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1984690&rec=1&srcabs=1934172&alg=1&pos=7">another study</a> with Tan and Oh, once a hashtag reaches a threshold of visibility, subsequent online conversations between individuals only magnify the influence and spread of the hashtag. This helps turn users from passive sharers into active broadcasters. </p>
<p>While the age of TV makes it possible that one person’s act of protest can be broadcast very quickly around the world, it is the opinion-making role of social media, when combined with its reach and speed, that makes digital activism compelling. </p>
<h2>Message for businesses</h2>
<p>So what does this mean for companies? </p>
<p>Because consumers often <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/4008642">consider themselves</a> to be in a “social contract” with businesses, which are supposed to care about their well-being, the biggest problems emerge when companies do something that appears to violate it. That’s what happened when United’s Oscar Munoz <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/10/united-ceo-says-airline-had-to-re-accommodate-passenger-and-twitter-is-having-a-riot.html">described</a> dragging a passenger off a plane as “reaccommodating” him. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffwilliams/2015/11/04/can-chipotle-survive-its-e-coli-crisis-pr-experts-seem-to-think-so-and-offer-advice/#7f2b8e663276">Some companies</a>, however, have learned how to manage the power of social media by being proactive in dealing with cultural and political issues that could trigger a backlash from consumers if poorly handled. </p>
<p>This, however, might be of little use after an embarrassing incident like United’s. That situation illustrates the importance of being flexible with processes, as well as with communications. In <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-jeff-bezos-united-incident-pr-fiasco-2017-4">his 2017 letter to shareholders</a>, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos hit this on the nose when he noted how “it’s not that rare to hear a junior leader defend a bad outcome with something like, ‘Well, we followed the process.’”</p>
<p>This is exactly what happened to United when the <a href="https://qz.com/956964/the-lessons-of-united-ceo-oscar-munozs-failed-attempts-to-apologize/">CEO’s initial defense</a> of what his crew did on April 9 <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/united-boss-dragged-passenger-was-disruptive-belligerent-n745031">only exacerbated the problem</a>. And I believe it’s why ABC didn’t hesitate in dropping “Roseanne” before the backlash spread. </p>
<p>The old adage is that the customer is always right. Today’s fast-paced world means this idea is more important that ever, and companies need to communicate clearly and to proactively keep consumer trust when it’s violated. </p>
<p>When it comes to negative fallout from social media, it is important to act quickly – even if there are some missteps at first.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated and expanded version of an article originally published on April 13, 2017.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97496/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anjana Susarla does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Incidents that may have been mere hiccups a few years ago can go viral in an instant today. ABC seems to have learned from the mistakes of others.Anjana Susarla, Associate Professor of Information Systems, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/964912018-05-27T15:51:45Z2018-05-27T15:51:45ZStarbucks and the impact of implicit bias training<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220537/original/file-20180527-51135-1wt70gl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Employees of Starbucks Coffee in the United States and Canada will receive "implicit bias" training. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than 1,200 Starbucks in Canada closed for a few hours on June 11 to provide its staff with <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/17/starbucks-to-close-all-stores-on-may-29-for-racial-bias-education-day.html">implicit bias training,</a> two weeks after all of the coffee company’s outlets in the United States did the same thing.</p>
<p>Whether you have heard of implicit or unconscious biases through <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/05/02/african-american-men-arrested-at-starbucks-reach-1-settlement-with-the-city-secure-promise-for-200000-grant-program-for-young-entrepreneurs/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1ad87cb18fdd">Starbucks’ recent controversy</a> or as a <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/10/vp-debate-mike-pence-got-implicit-bias-pretty-wrong/">topic in the 2016 U.S. presidential debates</a>, the topic of implicit bias seems like it is everywhere. </p>
<p>We are all familiar with the concept of explicit biases. These include attitudes and behaviours regarding certain groups with the intent to harm or exclude. Explicit biases can be obvious, such as racism or believing one ethnic group is superior to another. They can also be subtler, like favouring someone we know. </p>
<p>These explicit biases are conscious, intentional and deliberate.</p>
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<p>In contrast, implicit biases are stereotypes that form through our experiences and that work outside of our awareness. Even though we are not aware of them, implicit biases lead to discriminatory behaviours and biased decisions. </p>
<p>Implicit biases can also include non-verbal behaviours or avoidance. By their very nature, implicit biases are automatic beliefs or associated behaviours that influence us without our knowledge and despite our best intentions.</p>
<h2>Implicit bias is harmful</h2>
<p>Starbucks’ baristas are not the only workers who demonstrate implicit bias. </p>
<p>When individuals with “Black-sounding names” applied for jobs compared to individuals with “white-sounding names,” the people with white names received <a href="http://cos.gatech.edu/facultyres/Diversity_Studies/Bertrand_LakishaJamal.pdf">50 per cent more callbacks</a>. In another study, psychologists who were applying for jobs found that out of two identical CVs, <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/43/13201">one would be rated more positively</a> if it was attached to the name Brian compared to the name Karen. </p>
<p>Research on implicit bias in health care has demonstrated how health professionals can make biased clinical decisions, even when their intentions are to treat all groups fairly. </p>
<p>For example, an important <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2219763/">study by doctor Alexander Green and his colleagues in 2007</a> found that despite explicitly denying a preference for white versus Black patients, doctors implicitly saw Black patients as less co-operative regarding medical procedures. Those doctors who demonstrated increased levels of implicit biases were more likely to treat their white patients over treating Black patients for their heart attacks. </p>
<p>Similar research has found that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4843483/">implicit biases contribute to racial disparities in pain treatment</a> and adversely influence several patient populations. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-impacts-your-health-84112">Racism impacts your health</a>
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<p>We also know that implicit biases lead to behaviour that undermines trust. Groups that experience discrimination experience a profound negative effect which leads to self-reinforcing cycles of distancing and disconnection. </p>
<p>Individuals who encounter implicit biases can gradually internalize them and this leads members of certain marginalized groups to begin to conform to negative biases about themselves.</p>
<h2>Bias training for all?</h2>
<p>So should we all follow Starbucks’ lead and implement implicit bias training in our organizations? </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220538/original/file-20180527-51091-1otkzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220538/original/file-20180527-51091-1otkzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220538/original/file-20180527-51091-1otkzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220538/original/file-20180527-51091-1otkzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220538/original/file-20180527-51091-1otkzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220538/original/file-20180527-51091-1otkzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220538/original/file-20180527-51091-1otkzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Protesters gather outside a Starbucks in Philadelphia in April after two Black men were arrested after Starbucks employees called police to say the men were trespassing. The arrest prompted accusations of racism and led to Starbucks bringing in anti-bias training programs for all of its employees in the United States and Canada.</span>
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<p>While implicit bias is a problem that erodes equity and perpetuates discrimination, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/business/starbucks-racial-bias-training.html">research on implicit bias training</a> highlights mixed results and suggests that implicit bias training alone will not solve the problem. </p>
<p>My research on implicit bias in health professions sought to understand how this training works. Early in our journey, we learned that simply making individuals aware of their implicit biases was not enough. </p>
<p>When our participants became aware of their biases through an <a href="http://implicit.harvard.edu">online metric of implicit bias</a> called the implicit association test (IAT), developed by researchers at Harvard, it led to significant emotional distress and a defensive reaction. </p>
<h2>A hard look in the mirror can hurt</h2>
<p>We were surprised to find that when we provided people with feedback about their implicit biases, this information was inconsistent with an idealized version of themselves that was simply impossible to achieve. </p>
<p>Societal pressures and stigma against being prejudiced led to individuals feeling like they are not allowed to have any bias, despite the fact that we all have biases, and not all biases can be eliminated. In fact, some biases may be helpful to keep us safe.</p>
<p>Implicit bias training is therefore unique from other forms of diversity training because a conversation on implicit bias must start with a hard look in the mirror. The conversation can only begin once we humble ourselves by recognizing that we are all deeply flawed and imperfect human beings. </p>
<p>Training can be most effective when there is a balance between psychological safety and motivation to change behaviour. </p>
<h2>Knowing and reflecting</h2>
<p>Simply knowing about our biases <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29140915">is not enough</a>. Once we become aware of our own biases, we must reflect on how these biases impact ourselves and others. </p>
<p>Discussion and dialogue are both important to reflect on how certain biases may be negative or positive and useful or counterproductive, depending on context. Then, we must begin to set and practise tangible changes in our explicit behaviours. </p>
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<span class="caption">Research has shown that implicit bias in the health care system has led to different treatments for Black and white patients with the same symptoms.</span>
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<p>For example, our research found that physicians and nurses often have implicit biases towards individuals with mental illness who come into emergency departments because these health professionals label such patients as “unfixable,” and implicitly avoid them because they do not feel like they can offer their patients any assistance. </p>
<p>The patients, however, perceived this implicit avoidance as prejudice and discrimination. Our initial training highlighted these biases for doctors and nurses but also promoted explicitly and intentionally engaging with such patients to counter the tendency to avoid them. </p>
<p>We also learned that accomplishing change requires dialogue to reconcile our biases and open conversations with our peers can help motivate us to change behaviour. </p>
<h2>Learning together</h2>
<p>Interventions to reduce the adverse impact of bias are most effective when people who work together learn together, and when teams feel comfortable being open about their biases with one another. </p>
<p>Our training was most effective when it was accompanied with constant discussion and dialogue among people who work together. Individuals who participated in the training began questioning biased practices and demonstrating new behaviours which provided a model for others in the workplace to emulate.</p>
<p>Another challenge with implementing bias training is that biases and inequities often become embedded in workplace structures and policies over time. In our most <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29455445">recently published paper</a>, we followed participants for 12 months after they participated in implicit bias training. </p>
<p>Initially, these participants told us that they enjoyed learning about their biases and wanted to change, but any change they promoted went up against a workplace culture that was a barrier to change. </p>
<p>As we followed them over time, participants began reflecting on their biases and engaging in explicit behavioural changes that influenced the perception of structural changes within the learning environment itself. Together, our participants began co-constructing social change. </p>
<p>This finding is important because addressing implicit bias cannot be achieved by individuals alone. Explicit structural and organizational changes are also required to promote change. </p>
<p>If we encourage individuals to question biased norms within their workplace but they speak up and face retribution for doing so, we are creating more problems than we are solving. If any company wants implicit bias training to be successful, the company itself must survey its policies and processes and be prepared to change them. </p>
<p>If your company decides to implement implicit bias training, make sure you ask them what else they plan on doing to promote equity and reduce discrimination. Shutting stores or implementing mandatory training will simply not be enough.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96491/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Javeed Sukhera receives funding from Associated Medical Services, London Health Sciences Centre Children's Health Foundation, the Arnold P. Gold Foundation and the Academic Medical Organization of Southwestern Ontario.</span></em></p>Starbucks is implementing implicit bias training for its employees in the United States and Canada. Even though we are not aware implicit biases, they lead to discriminatory behaviours.Javeed Sukhera, Assistant Professor, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Department of Psychiatry, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/940022018-04-30T10:45:19Z2018-04-30T10:45:19ZBlack employees in the service industry pay an emotional tax at work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216761/original/file-20180429-135837-f3fq1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Starbucks workers in Seattle.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The arrests of two black men who were <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philadelphia-starbucks/starbucks-ceo-says-arrests-of-two-black-men-reprehensible-idUSKBN1HN2AL">waiting for a friend</a> at a Starbucks in Philadelphia last year raised questions about how race determines how customers are treated.</p>
<p>But does race also affect how the employees are treated within the service industry?</p>
<p>Prior research shows that black workers in people-oriented occupations – health care, service and sales – are <a href="http://amj.aom.org/content/53/2/238.short">rated lower</a> by customers and supervisors than are white workers, even when their performance is objectively the same. Because of this, black workers have a harder time obtaining competitive raises or promotions. But it is unclear why or what workers can do about it.</p>
<p>In the U.S. workforce, blacks are disproportionately represented in <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/38168029/ns/business-careers/t/lowest-paying-jobs-america/#.WrmwjMPwbIU">low-paying</a> service jobs like cashiers, call center employees and food service workers compared to higher-status jobs. So this issue has serious implications for the financial and professional lives of a large segment of black workers.</p>
<h2>Race impacts perception of performance</h2>
<p>Friendliness is key to performing well in the service industry. My colleagues <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=w4HHMQwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Lawrence Houston III</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=C8ZuPScAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Derek R. Avery</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TYnFrXMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I</a> found that negative stereotypes about blacks – that they are unfriendly, hostile or rude – explain lower performance evaluations of black service providers compared to white service providers.</p>
<p>We found that in order for the performance of black service providers to be rated equivalent to whites, blacks had to amplify and fake positive emotions to override those negative racial stereotypes. In other words, to be seen as good as white employees, black employees need to perform more “emotional labor,” a concept <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520272941">introduced by sociologist Arlie Hochschild</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps just like the two men at Starbucks, black service employees are assumed to have hostile intentions unless they put in extra effort to put forth a smile and show they are not a threat.</p>
<h2>Across three studies</h2>
<p>We drew these conclusions from <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0149206318757019">a series of studies</a> we conducted over several years. </p>
<p>In our first study, we asked a representative sample of people for their impressions of an employee described as holding an emotional labor job, a hotel desk clerk. They saw a photo of either a black or white person with a neutral expression, but otherwise the same job qualifications. Regardless of the respondents’ own race, education or income, they saw the black employee as less friendly and more hostile than the white employee.</p>
<p>In the second study, people watched a video of either a black or a white sales clerk ringing up sales in a home goods shop. They saw the clerk acting either warm and friendly or just polite. In all videos the sales clerk was efficient and knowledgeable. </p>
<p>When viewers saw the employee performing less emotional labor – just being polite and efficient – the black employee was rated as less friendly and a worse performer than the white employee. In contrast, after watching the friendly condition, the viewers rated the black and white employees similarly. </p>
<p>In short, just being polite was not enough for the black employee; putting on a big smile was necessary to get the same performance ratings as the white employee.</p>
<p>Both of the above studies were experiments. In a third study, we surveyed actual service employees and their supervisors.</p>
<p>Again, we found that supervisors rated black grocery store clerks as worse performers than white clerks, which could not be explained by job experience or motivation. Yet, black clerks who reported amplifying and faking their positive emotions when interacting with customers – more emotional labor – saw the racial disparity in the performance evaluations disappear. </p>
<p>Notably, white clerks were rated highly regardless of the frequency of their emotional labor. For black clerks to be rated as highly as the white clerks, they had to more consistently exaggerate their smile in customer interactions.</p>
<h2>High cost of ‘service with a smile’</h2>
<p>All service employees must sometimes put on a fake smile when having an off day, and sometimes they might let the mask slip. Our research shows that white employees who do less emotional labor can still be viewed positively, but black employees are not given the benefit of the doubt. Black employees constantly “fake it to make it” in service jobs.</p>
<p>Being a black service provider requires routinely putting forth more emotional effort – a bigger smile, a more enthusiastic tone of voice, maintained across time and customers – to be evaluated similarly to a white co-worker. If a black employee gets tired of faking that smile, there is a resulting decline in performance evaluation. This also means fewer opportunities for promotions, raises and career advancement.</p>
<p>Though putting on a smile might seem like a small price to pay to get ahead at work, <a href="http://amj.aom.org/content/46/1/86.short">research shows</a> that keeping up a friendly façade is a path to job burnout, a state of complete exhaustion linked to a desire to quit and health issues. Recognizing this situation is a first step to improving conditions for black employees and customers alike.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94002/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alicia Grandey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Three studies found that customers and managers rate black employee performance lower than white employees because they’re perceived as unfriendly or rude.Alicia Grandey, Professor of Psychology, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.