Attempting to sway employees away from unionizing, Starbucks Chairman Emeritus Howard Schultz made a comparison between Jewish prisoners sharing blankets on Nazi death trains to Starbucks corporate.
Vice:
"Not everyone, but most people shared their blanket with five other people," Schultz, who noted that he is Jewish before sharing the story, said. "So much of that story is threaded into what we've tried to do at Starbucks is share our blanket."
The metaphor, seemingly, was an attempt to explain that Starbucks has built an unparalleled corporate culture over the last 50 years that both he and employees could be proud of. During the 45-minute speech, Schultz lamented the state of politics and also talked about innovations in coffee making and his vision for employees. (Schultz has shared this anecdote when speaking with shareholders.)
He mentioned Starbucks is working on "A completely new cold beverage station to make life easier because 50-60 percent of our customers are into cold brew," he said.
