Starbucks Plans Racial-Bias Training for Employees at U.S. Stores
April 17 2018 - 3:59PM
Dow Jones News
By Austen Hufford
As Starbucks Corp. faces pressure over its handling of employee
encounters with black customers, the company said it would
temporarily close thousands of its U.S. company-owned stores in May
to conduct racial-bias education.
Starbucks said Tuesday that more than 8,000 company-owned stores
would close on the afternoon of May 29.
The move comes as the company responds to criticism that some of
its front-line employees improperly treated black people. A
customer's video recently posted online showed several police
officers coming to arrest two black men at a Starbucks in
Philadelphia, handcuffing them while customers told police the men
weren't doing anything and asked why they were being arrested.
Starbucks Chief Executive Kevin Johnson has apologized for the
incident. The men were later released without being charged.
The company said in a statement Tuesday that Mr. Johnson and the
men "have engaged in constructive discussions about this issue as
well as what is happening in communities across the country."
A second video that has spread widely in recent days alleges
that a Starbucks employee refused to give bathroom access to a
black patron after giving it to another patron shortly before.
The single-day training event is unlikely to significantly
affect the company's coffee and food sales. Starbucks has more than
28,000 locations world-wide and the U.S. stores will be closed
after the critical morning period.
There are 5,843 licensed Starbucks stores in the U.S., and 8,320
company-owned Starbucks in the U.S.
While stores are closed, employees will go through a training
program designed to address unconscious racial bias among employees
and help ensure that all customers feel welcome.
The company said it was developing the employee curriculum with
prominent civil-rights leaders and activists including with Bryan
Stevenson, the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative;
Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education
Fund; Demos President Heather McGhee; former U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder and Anti-Defamation League Chief Executive Jonathan
Greenblatt.
Starbucks will make the education materials available to other
companies, including to those who operate stores not owned by the
company.
--Julie Jargon contributed to this article.
Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 17, 2018 15:44 ET (19:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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