Starbucks Coffee Co

Starbucks a hub of union-busting and worker exploitation? Say it ain't so, Howard Schultz! The Starbucks chief executive, who actively cultivates a socially progressive image, is in the cross hairs of a new-media campaign designed to bolster union representation at the retail giant and beyond. For five years, Starbucks has been the target of a limited but sometimes nasty unionization drive that has tarnished its reputation for high-minded benevolence.

Starbucks recalled 530,000 coffee grinders with the unfortunate tendency to turn on all by themselves. The Seattle coffee giant and the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued the recall Tuesday after Starbucks Corp. received three reports of cuts to the hands of coffee lovers who were cleaning their grinders when the appliance unexpectedly turned on, commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said.

Starbucks Corp. said Monday that it was returning its chairman, Howard Schultz, to the chief executive's job to lead a major restructuring initiative, replacing Jim Donald. The move, coupled with plans to open new U.S. stores at a slower pace, comes as the world's largest chain of coffeehouses has seen its stock plummet 50% over the last year amid declining traffic in its domestic stores. Starbucks' announcement after regular markets closed sent the company's shares up $1.

Starbucks Corp. and AT&T Inc. will start offering a mix of free and paid wireless Internet service in most of the international coffee retailer's U.S. shops, beginning this spring. The move announced Monday ends a six-year partnership with T-Mobile, which did not include free Wi-Fi and charged higher fees than AT&T will. Starbucks said it would give customers who use a Starbucks card two hours of free wireless access per day. More time than that will cost $3.99 for a two-hour session.

Starbucks Corp. is experimenting with a $2.50 cup of coffee that would add a premium product to help fight the first drop in U.S. customer visits in its 37-year history. In Seattle, its hometown, Starbucks is testing a 12-ounce cup of "fresh-pressed" coffee at $2.50 each. The price is $2.25 in a Boston trial. Starbucks charges $1.55 for a regular brew. McDonald's Corp. has been stealing customers with $1.39 coffee and is challenging Starbucks by adding espresso counters.

Jose Parilli and Candice Culp walked to a Starbucks coffee shop in Hollywood late Tuesday afternoon only to find the doors locked and a sign proclaiming: "We're taking time to perfect our art of espresso. . . . We will be closed Tuesday, February 26 from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m." "That's not cool, dude," Parilli said. "It's messed up," echoed Culp. "I'm not going to survive."

Starbucks Corp. said Wednesday that its fiscal second-quarter profit fell 28% as U.S. consumers responded to rising food and gasoline prices by making fewer latte runs. For the quarter ended March 30, Starbucks' net income sank to $108.7 million, or 15 cents a share, from $150.8 million, or 19 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 12% to $2.53 billion. Starbucks warned last week that results would fall short of Wall Street's expectations.

Coffeehouse chain Starbucks Corp. said Wednesday that weak sales in the U.S. and costs related to its closure of 600 underperforming stores led it to post a loss for its fiscal third quarter. The company also cut its guidance for the year and said it would open fewer stores in the U.S. and internationally, in both 2008 and 2009. But Starbucks kept its profit guidance intact for 2009, easing investors' fears about the economy's effect on the year ahead.

Starbucks Corp. is cutting trans fats from the doughnuts, muffins and other treats in half of its U.S. stores and plans to eventually drop the artery-clogging fats from company-operated coffeehouses across the country. The world's largest specialty coffee retailer has been working to eliminate trans fats from its food menu for about two years, spokesman Brandon Borrman said Tuesday.

After moving more than 92,000 copies of Mitch Albom's bestseller "For One More Day," Starbucks has changed course and chosen an African war memoir by an unknown, 25-year-old writer as its second venture into book sales, the company announced yesterday. The book is "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah, a onetime child soldier in Sierra Leone. The book is scheduled to go on general sale Feb. 13 and at Starbucks cafes two days later.