美国国家公共电台 NPR--From the great resignation to unionizing: Starbucks reflects 2022's labor journey

From the great resignation to unionizing: Starbucks reflects 2022's labor¹ journey

Transcript²

Worker shortages, rising wages, unionization and automation. In 2022, Starbucks embodied³ all these trends in the workplace, perhaps more than any other company.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

From labor shortages to the great resignation, the American workplace shifted enormously in 2022. And perhaps no single company embodies⁴ this as much as Starbucks. NPR's Stacey Vanek Smith has this report.

STACEY VANEK SMITH, BYLINE⁵: It is the middle of the morning rush at a Starbucks near Wall Street. And it is hopping⁶. At the order pickup⁷ counter, dozens of people in suits stand around waiting for their drinks.

UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE: Randy, dark roast. Michele, dark roast with cream.

VANEK SMITH: The little team of workers is like a Swiss watch, steaming, tapping, pouring, serving up drink after drink, after drink.

UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE: OK. Robert with the iced coffee. Suzanne, grande latte.

VANEK SMITH: I came here with labor economist⁸ Daniel Zhao. He works at Glassdoor, a labor research company.

DANIEL ZHAO: This is a well-oiled machine. It's almost like a modern-day assembly line.

VANEK SMITH: An assembly line that all but disappeared in the early part of the pandemic. But in 2022, these jobs came roaring back, at least they tried to.

ZHAO: As demand has started coming back, there hasn't been the same availability of workers.

VANEK SMITH: Zhao says 2022 was characterized by labor shortages, especially at restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, bars. They simply could not find enough workers to fill all of their jobs. And even when they did find those workers, keeping them was tough. The number of people quitting their jobs in the U.S. hit record highs over the last two years. But in these kinds of customer service jobs, quitting was double what it was for workers in other sectors⁹.

ZHAO: Because people have opportunities to go find another job, that means they're more willing to quit their job to actually go find something that might be better for them.

VANEK SMITH: Zhao says this was a great thing for workers. But it did put companies in a tough spot because at the same time as all of this churn was happening in the job market, demand was soaring. This year, sales spiked¹⁰ at Starbucks. Customers were back. And they were very demanding, according to Starbucks worker Gailyn Berg.

GAILYN BERG: More customization is definitely part of it. There are people who want to get, like, a Frappuccino and then add vanilla¹¹ sweet cream cold foam¹² to the top of it. So like, I need vanilla sweet cream cold foam. I need two orders of pumpkin¹³ cream cold foam.

VANEK SMITH: The worker shortage, combined with rising demand, created a second big trend in the job market this year, rising wages. In these kinds of service jobs, wages rose about 7%. But even that was not enough to hold back the third major trend for 2022, the rise of unions. Economist Daniel Zhao points out that union filings rose by more than 50% in 2022.

ZHAO: When you have a hot job market, that gives workers more confidence and more power and more negotiating leverage¹⁴ to actually form these unions, or at the very least negotiate for better pay, better benefits, better working conditions.

VANEK SMITH: A year ago, the first Starbucks unionized in New York. Hundreds of Starbucks have followed suit. The labor shortage, higher pay, the rise of unions, it's all prompted companies to start investing in their own trend of 2022, robots. Krispy Kreme is bringing in machines to frost and fill its donuts. Denny's has robots delivering food to tables. Jack¹⁵ in the Box has robots making fries. And at Starbucks, CEO Howard Schultz has created a machine that can make a Frappuccino. It is investing almost half a billion dollars in robots that will hopefully be able to churn out complicated drinks in record time. Question is, can they accommodate those fussy¹⁶ customers?

UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE: Right. Candace, sugar cookie almond milk latte. Jennifer, soy grande triple hot - I mean triple extra hot latte. Jenny, trenta no sweet cream cold brew¹⁷.

VANEK SMITH: Robots or not, economist Daniel Zhao expects labor shortages, higher pay and union activity to keep on humming well into 2023.

UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE: Zachary. Zack attack. Zack the main mac. I think I've got one more.

VANEK SMITH: Stacey Vanek Smith, NPR News.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 embodied   

v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth 代表黑人青年希望的政治家
• The heroic deeds of him embodied the glorious tradition of the troops. 他的英雄事迹体现了军队的光荣传统。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 embodies   

v.表现( embody的第三人称单数 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This document embodies the concern of the government for the deformity. 这个文件体现了政府对残疾人的关怀。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

7 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

8 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

9 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

11 vanilla   

n.香子兰，香草

参考例句：

• He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
• I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。

12 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

13 pumpkin   

n.南瓜

参考例句：

• They ate turkey and pumpkin pie.他们吃了火鸡和南瓜馅饼。
• It looks like there is a person looking out of the pumpkin!看起来就像南瓜里有人在看着你！

14 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

15 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

16 fussy   

adj.为琐事担忧的，过分装饰的，爱挑剔的

参考例句：

• He is fussy about the way his food's cooked.他过分计较食物的烹调。
• The little girl dislikes her fussy parents.小女孩讨厌她那过分操心的父母。

17 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。