UK Uncut V.S. Starbucks

UK UNCUT

V.S.

STARBUCKS

Design and Photography by Michael John Brown.

All interviews and comments remain anonymous.

Printed by Newspaper Club.

Starbucks, pay your taxes!

On the 11th November, UK Uncut called out to the public to “Wake up and smell the coffee”. They planned to target Starbucks stores around the country due to the corporation avoiding paying any corporation tax for the last three years, despite making sales of £3.1 billion; this is tax that could be put towards crucial public services. Starbucks is one of many corporations to come under scrutiny recently due to the loopholes it uses to avoid paying tax, with other companies such as Amazon, Google and Apple also making the headlines.

This action by comes in the wake of the Government cutting £5.6 million that UK Uncut say will have a negative effect on women’s equality, pushing it back decades as benefits and services such as healthcare, Sure Start centres, childcare and rape and domestic abuse groups are cut and female unemployment rises. On Saturday, 8th December, UK Uncut wanted the publics outcry to be heard. The plan was to turn Starbucks shops all over the country in to the services facing the cuts that could potentially be saved if these bigger companies paid tax like everybody else; this involved women’s refuge centres, crèches and rape crisis centres.

To make matters worse, the same week as the planned protest, Starbucks management dramatically offered to pay back £20 million over the next two years, but at their own workers expense. Starbucks informed their employees that they would be cutting paid lunch breaks, sick pay, maternity leave, amongst other benefits. UK Uncut said enough is enough.

Bristol, 08/12/12

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Cuts kill! corporations and banks should pay.

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“They’re not even paying their work force enough. So their wages have to be subsidised by the tax payer, through tax credits and housing benefits. Not only that, but once they make their one off contribution paying tax, they try to get their own work force to pay for it by slashing their employees payed lunch breaks and sick leaves.”

– Protester

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We need tax, not private wealth!

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pay your tax or we will shut you down!

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One employee working at Starbucks pays more tax than the entire coMPANY.

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One employee working at Starbucks pays more tax than the entire coMPANY.

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“You’ve achieved your aim, they’re not going to open, the staff are going to go home and you’ve closed it down for the day, so, job done. I think you’ve got your message across, there has been no trouble, they won’t open again, so it’s up to you what you want to do now, but we would all like to go home.”

– Police Officer

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