Unions target Starbucks

Labor, community officials stage rally at San Mateo coffee house to protest Cintas contract

By Tim Simmers - BUSINESS WRITER

SAN MATEO (CA)-- Labor and community leaders staged a rally in front of the downtown Starbucks here Tuesday, calling the coffee company's new contract with uniform-and-laundry-supplier Cintas socially irresponsible.
The demonstrators wore bandages and arm slings to dramatize what they called Cintas' poor record for worker safety, including two deaths in illegal and unsafe working conditions in recent years. They also slammed the company for paying low wages and creating sweatshop working conditions.

"Starbucks, we're asking you to wake up and smell the sweatshop," said Shelley Kessler, executive secretary treasurer and leader of the San Mateo County Central Labor Council. "Starbucks claims to be socially responsible, but using Cintas as a contractor defies these principles."

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