Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been the subject of their fair share of controversy, but now they have crept into the midst of the battle between multi-billion dollar companies and workers trying to unionize their US workplaces.
On his first day back as CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz promised additional benefits for workers and digital innovation through NFTs. At an open partner forum, Schultz mentioned that “sometime before the end of the calendar year, we’re going to be in the NFT business.”
The ad received its share of criticism. In a tweet, user smchatter1 wrote that “companies could simply pay employees living wages instead of burning profits to maintain illusions.” Michael Lama also criticized the move:
“and here is how we’re going to try to dupe, scam, and milk even more money out of our employees”
— Michael Lama (@LamaLamaRedPjma) April 5, 2022
Although the integration of NFTs may seem like a progressive move, some believe it is a way to distract people from the company’s actions against union formation. An hour after the announcement, Starbucks fired Laila Dalton, a union leader who had worked for the company for more than three years.
In an interview, Dalton said she was constantly harassed by managers for being a union leader. “I always look forward to it because I get harassed every day,” she Dalton said.
Efforts to unionize stores are gaining ground in the United States. On April 1, the Starbucks Roastery in New York’s Chelsea market became the 10th unionized Starbucks in the United States.
First Roastery and tenth union Starbucks in the US We are #unionstrong pic.twitter.com/XByqnJ6CEn
— SBWorkersUnited (@SBWorkersUnited) April 1, 2022
Also, Amazon workers in Staten Island they won recently the vote to become Amazon’s first union in the United States, a move that has been hailed by many labor policy observers as a major victory for workers in America.
Schultz has been very anti-union. At the partners’ meeting, he described Starbucks as “a pro-partner company. A company that doesn’t need anyone between us and our people.” As well he claimed that businesses across the country are “being assaulted in many ways by the threat of unionization.”
Despite this alleged threat of unionization, Starbucks posted record profits in the fourth quarter of 2021, while employees shared concerns about unhealthy and unpredictable hours, in addition to benefits issues and low wages.
In March, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint against the coffee company, accusing it of targeting workers who wanted to form unions. Under the NLRB, employees have the right to seek improvements and form unions. Cornele Overstreet, director of the NLRB, said “employees have the right to work together to improve their working conditions, including by forming a union.”
Back in March 2022, Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin also expressed concern that the Ethereum blockchain’s original vision of an egalitarian digital economy would be overtaken by entities motivated by greed. However, the community responded by saying that there should be a balance between idealism and profit.
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