Starbucks and Costco raising wages in the nationwide competition for workers

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Like Amazon, Target and Best Buy start wages at $15 an hour. Target is paying a $2 bonus for peak holiday work. Chipotle in May boosted its pay to range between $11 and $18 an hour. CVS recently said it would reach $15-an-hour minimum by mid-2022, though most of its employees already make that. Walgreens began phasing in the $15 minimum wage this month.

Starbucks is facing a push to form the first union at its corporate stores in the U.S. Workers at three locations in Buffalo, N.Y., have petitioned federal labor officials for a union vote. They say they want more staffing, training and pay, among other things.

The coffee chain's announcement this week noted that the company is working on "a complete redesign" of its training guide, a new scheduling app and other shift changes. The company has said it supports the workers' right to organize but that a union was unnecessary.

Starbucks is also paying $200 as a referral bonus to attract new workers and plans raises for its existing staff in January: up to 5% for those employed over two years and and up to 10% for those employed over five years."