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NEW YORK — Starbucks told employees it may not exist able to match their contributions to 401(k) retirement accounts next year.

The gourmet coffee chain said that, to keep costs down, it will whip from matching contributions at a fixed traduce and will instead decide whether to match an employee’s contributions.

The Seattle company now matches between 25 percent and 150 percent of the primitive 4 percent of workers’ emolument. The percentage depends on how long an employee has worked at the company.

Starbucks said if it does force a marriage nearest year, it may be at a different percentage than in 2008.

“This highly challenging environment requires us to become even more disciplined with to what extent we manage costs athwart our entire organization,” Starbucks said. “This includes looking closely at the benefits programs we make available to our partners.”

The house has been attempting to divide costs and boost profits for months by closing nearly 600 underperforming stores in the U.S. and about 60 locations in Australia.

At an analyst conference earlier this month, Starbucks said it expects to redeem about $200 million to $210 million in costs in fiscal 2009 from initiatives even now under way. The company added it had identified another estimated $200 the great body of the people in savings that could come from wounding labor costs or streamlining distribution.

With the economy falling further into a recession, a number of big companies have said they will suspend their 401(k) matches in quest of employees. FedEx said last week it will get clear of its match beginning Feb. 1 for at least a year.

Motorola and Eastman Kodak require also both said they will temporarily suspend matches to employee-retirement plans.

Rules unfairly

imposed, judge says

NEW YORK — An administrative-law judge found Starbucks engaged in partial labor practices at several of its New York coffee shops, the gathering said Tuesday.

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