For Labor Day: My "we-they" test for good places to work

Why worker empowerment is good for everyone -- not just the workers

Yesterday I went into a local Starbucks and asked the barista behind the counter a simple question: “How is it to work here?”

He was understandably cautious in answering me. After all, I could have been a corporate stooge (Starbucks is doing whatever it can to bust unions, including firing workers who appear to be disgruntled and may be trying to organi…