Starbucks announces NFT initiative as union-busting controversy continues

cointelegraph.com:

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have seen their fair share of controversy, but now they have found their way into the midst of the battle between multi-billion dollar corporations and workers trying to unionize their workplaces in the United States.

On his first day back as the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz promised additional worker benefits to workers and digital innovation using NFTs. In a partner open forum, Schultz mentioned that "sometime before the end of the calendar year, we are going to be in the NFT business."

The announcement received its fair share of backlash. In a tweet, user smchatter1 wrote that “corporations could just pay employees living wages instead of burning profits to maintain illusions.” Michael Lama also criticized the move:

"and here is how we're going to try to dupe, scam, and milk even more money out of our employees"

While integrating NFTs may seem like a progressive move, some believe that it’s a way to distract people from the company’s actions against the formation of unions. An hour after the announcement, Starbucks fired Laila Dalton, a union leader who had worked for the company for more than three years.

In an interview, Dalton said that managers were constantly harassing her for being the leader of a union. “I’m always expecting it because I’m harassed every single day,” Dalton said.

Efforts to unionize stores are gaining ground in the United States. On April 1, the Starbucks Roastery at New York's Chelsea market became the tenth unionized Starbucks in the United States. 

First Roastery and tenth union Starbucks in the U.S. We are #unionstrong pic.twitter.com/XByqnJ6CEn

Furthermore, Amazon workers in Staten Island recently won the vote to become the first U.S. Amazon union, a move that has