Starbucks will hire 10,000 refugees, starting in U.S.
Starbucks is joining the companies that say they'll create jobs in the U.S. — only it's going to put the emphasis on hiring refugees.
The coffee giant pledged Sunday to hire 10,000 refugees in the 75 countries where it operates over the next five years. CEO Howard Schultz, in a letter to Starbucks workers, said the effort will begin in the U.S. with an emphasis on hiring refugees who have served as interpreters and support personnel for U.S. armed forces abroad. U.S. troops made heavy use of such workers during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We are living in an unprecedented time, one in which we are witness to the conscience of our country, and the promise of the American Dream, being called into question," Schultz wrote, referring to Trump's executive order Friday indefinitely barring the admission of refugees from Syria, suspending all refugees from entering the U.S. for 120 days and temporarily halting immigration by people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. "These uncertain times call for different measures and communication tools than we have used in the past."
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Starbucks becomes the latest U.S. corporation to react to Trump's action. Google is putting up $2 million, which it hopes to match with employee contributions, to help fund four organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, that it believes are in a position to help fight back against the immigration ban. Tesla Motors and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said he is going to try to find a consensus among major CEOs over changes they would like to see in the ban, and present the recommendation to Trump.
Schultz said Trump's executive order is causing him "deep concern." With human rights under attack, "we will neither stand by, nor stand silent, as the uncertainty around the new administration's actions grows with each passing day," he wrote.
In particular, he said Starbucks is trying to work to help employees who may be affected by the order. He says he also wrote Sens. Dick Durban, D-Ill., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who have reintroduced a bill that aims to protect so-called "Dreamers" — those brought into the U.S. as children of undocumented immigrants — from deportation.
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