Local News
Tazo
continued from page 1
ditions hard to bear.
Shakur Shabazz — a four year employee
–was fired in September 2010 for arriving
late, soon after an injury caused doctors to
put him on a light work schedule and man-
agers had given him a flexible schedule, he
says.
Steve Murray – a 12-year employee —
was fired in July 2010 after management
told him he wasn’t doing a good enough job
on a position he wasn’t fully trained to
accomplish.
Lawrence Willis – a four-year employee
— says he was fired for “no call, no show”
in May 2009 when he was sick. He says he
did call in to report his absence that day.
The Skanner News was unable to speak
with the fourth employee.
Stacey Krum, a spokesperson for
Starbucks, says they “certainly deny the
allegations” of disparate treatment or
wrongful firing.
“Mr. Shabazz’ complaint was the first and
only indication of any such concerns at the
plant,” wrote Krum in an email response to
The Skanner News’ inquiry. “We take this
issue very seriously and are cooperat-
ing in the investigation. We are confi-
dent that the evidence will show that
the actions involving Mr. Shabazz and
others individuals he has named were
made for legitimate, performance-
related reasons.”
On light duty
The week before, Shabazz — says man-
agers had told him he could be flexible
when coming to work. But on Monday
morning, he was fired for arriving slightly
past 9 a.m., despite calling in.
The 12-Year Veteran
Murray was hired on Oct. 16, 1998 in the
shipping department and said his troubles
began when he asked one manager to sit in
on his weekly meetings with his direct
supervisor. He said he wasn’t “comfortable”
with her had feared she’d misrepresent his
concerns during the meetings. His request
was never granted.
On Dec. 17, 2009, Murray called in sick.
The next day he showed up, he got a write-
up. They told him there was a single order
left in the in-box when he left his last shift
– an order he said was not there on Dec. 16.
“I tried to explain to (the manager) that
the order wasn’t there when I left,” he said.
“In all the years I’ve been there, I’d never
heard of anyone else being treated with such
harshness.”
Then in May of 2010, Murray was told he
Shakur Shabazz
The No Call No Show That Wasn’t
Willis says his troubles also began when
he started questioning procedures and
policies during meetings that were
designed for such a purpose. According
to Krum, Starbucks has an “open door”
policy for such ideas.
“Most of my issues came in meet-
ings,” he said. “They’d say they were
trying to empower us … but when we
brought issues to them … it seems like
they always stuffed them under the
rug.”
When he was fired for his “no call, no
show,” that he denies happened, he said he
applied for unemployment and was granted
it by the state, until Starbucks appealed the
decision. He said he didn’t have the funds to
Shabbaz – like Willis – said his
troubles began when he
‘challenged the company’s
policies’
Shabbaz – like Willis – said his trou-
bles began when he “challenged the
company’s policies” regarding his constant
shift changes.
“I got hired the same day as a Caucasian
man and I got changed regularly to swing,
graveyard and day shift,” he said.
In the month before he was fired, Shabazz
said he began having severe spasms and
pain in his foot – a foot that had nearly been
severed when a forklift fell on it back in
1979. He visited two different doctors, both
of which recommended he be put on “light
duty.” He was to work no more than 6 hours
a day, according to a note from his doctor,
although he said he was still put on duty that
kept him on his feet.
In addition, he says he was not allowed to
take his prescription pain medication during
the day.
“So I’d take it at night,” he said. “One
night, I overslept because of that. I don’t
normally take medication … it kind of over-
whelmed me.”
was to engage in mandatory cross-training
on a job in a different part of the warehouse.
Because of the previous write-up, he said he
was not eligible for the .
Murray said he was given “no support
that was meaningful on the new position.”
Others put on “cross duty” were not
assigned full-time to their positions and he
says White workers were not given
mandatory cross-training.
He said he was fired when managers told
him he wasn’t suitable for the new posi-
tion – a position he did not want to fill. He
had been told he could not make more than
three mistakes in a month – however
minor – or be fired.
“We can’t comment on Mr. Murray’s per-
formance, why he was moved into another
role or why he was separated,” Krum said.
“His supervisor met with him regularly to
ensure that he was being given the appro-
priate resources and training to succeed.”
for employees to report concerns and mis-
management.
“In addition to the various hotlines and
other resources for partners to report con-
cerns, including anonymously, we survey
our partners regularly throughout the com-
pany,” according to Krum. “All partners at
Tazo had the opportunity to respond to an
anonymous survey last year. … As far as we
know, neither Mr. Shabazz nor any other
individual at the plant has raised this as an
issue. When our partners raise complaints
we promptly investigate and seek to resolve
their concerns.”
investigation
BOLI spokesperson Bob Estabrook says
an investigation into a complaint of employ-
ment discrimination can take anywhere
from 5 months to a year, with lots
of variables. Many cases will be
dropped by complainants before
they reach a conclusion, for a vari-
ety of reasons, he says.
After an investigator completes
their investigation, the file is given
to a compliance manager, who
reviews the case and makes a
determination. The file – if a com-
plaint is deemed to have validity –
is then moved to the Administrative Law
Process, which resembles a civil or criminal
court. That decision is presented to the
BOLI commissioner, who signs off on the
final order of judgment.
BOLI investigates about 2,000 complaints
a year, most are labor-related.
Starbucks says they maintain
resources for employees to
report concerns and
mismanagement
pay for either the appeal fee or to mail and
produce copies of his records. He is now
being forced to pay back more than $5,447
he received in unemployment insurance
compensation that he says was used to pay
bills and other living expenses.
Starbucks says they maintain resources
wired
continued from page 1
Corp., a public interest, communications
engineering and consulting firm, spoke to
the Broadband Strategic Planning group
from her office in Maryland, using Skype
video conferencing.
“Providing this utility and planning to
meet the community need is a core govern-
ment function,” Hovis said. “What I see are
significant national efforts in our competitor
nations, particularly in Asia, but also in
Europe, to deploy next generation technolo-
gies…”
The United States is lagging behind, she
said. China has more fiber to home connec-
tions than the USA, for example, while in
New Zealand 90 percent of homes and busi-
nesses already are wired for high speed
Internet. France, England, Japan, Australia
and many other countries also have forged
ahead with national, government-led plans.
“We must remember that we are educat-
ing our children for jobs that don’t yet exist,
to use technologies that haven’t yet been
invented to solve problems that we don’t yet
know are problems,” she said.
“If we don’t have the technologies and the
platform to do this, we are putting ourselves
and our children at a terrible disadvantage.”
already an infrastructure
Portland several years ago took up
a full broadband effort which col-
lapsed due to the economy, but not
before installing mile upon mile of
fiber-optic cable that runs under city
streets. These cables constitute the
infrastructure needed to deliver
high-speed Internet.
Wireless connections can’t work
alone; they need to be backed up by these
powerful fiber cables. Having them already
in place is an advantage that rural Oregon
and Washington and many other communi-
ties across the country simply do not have.
The commercial telecommunications
companies that control our high speed
Internet access have had little motivation to
expand their services to rural areas or high
poverty urban neighborhoods. Currently 15
percent of Portland residents don’t have a
choice of Internet provider.
“The first goal I have in this planning
Perhaps one of the most intriguing ideas is
that universal broadband could save gov-
ernment, business and private citizens a lot
of money. How?
“What if we had robust, affordable broad-
band, so everyone could telecommute one
day a week,” Henry suggests. “You
wouldn’t have to build so many
roads. You would put less stress on
TriMet. We could reduce carbon
emissions and make progress
toward our sustainability goals.”
Hovis said one study looked at
how telecommuting like this would
affect Seattle. It found that noxious
gas and emissions would be
reduced by 595,000 kg a year.
And the National Broadband Plan esti-
mates that using the Internet for health
checks and record keeping will save us
$700 billion over 15 – 25 years.
Coming next week: Broadband access
Part 2.
‘We must remember that we are
educating our children for jobs
that don’t yet exist’
process is what we can do to create compe-
tition,” said Mary Beth Henry, second in
command at the City of Portland’s Office of
Cable Communications and Franchise
Management. “Without competition you
don’t have a market and you don’t have
choice.”
february 16, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 3