Press Release: 7/16/03

While Peet's Coffee and Tea has taken many successful steps forward for its executives, customers and stockholders, employees at Peet's store 221 in Santa Cruz have seen steady movement backward in working conditions.

For years employees have striven to provide the best service for the customers and the company. After years of watching profits increase and employee requests go unrecognized, the employees of Peet's 221 have decided to be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers International (UFCW), local 839.

To a growing number of customers, Peet's is a luxurious daily treat. To stockholders, Peet's is an equity that promises a stable future. To management, Peet's is a job with good benefits and a wage that can support a family.

Employees have decided that without exercising their right to collective bargaining, their work at Peet's will never afford them personal luxury, a stable future or even a wage sufficient to support a family.

On Wednesday, July 9, by request of Peet's Santa Cruz employees, the UFCW submitted a petition to the National Labor Relations Board requesting that the UFCW be recognized as their representative in collective bargaining.

Employees’ complaints include insufficient wages and hours, and shrinking benefits packages becoming ever harder to obtain. They feel Peet's should share its success with its employees.