More than 85 workers at Starbucks who were heavily involved in union organizing efforts at giant coffee chain have been fired over the past several months, according to the workers group Starbucks Workers United.
Workers have filed numerous unfair labor practice charges over the firings and a federal judge recently ordered the reinstatement of seven workers in Memphis, Tennessee, who were fired in February, a ruling Starbucks has said it disagrees with and intends to appeal.
The National Labor Relations Board has issued 21 official complaints against Starbucks, encompassing 81 charges and 548 allegations of labor law violations that are currently under review.
Starbucks has accused the NLRB of favoring the union campaign and called for union elections to be temporarily suspended. The company has vehemently opposed unionization efforts as more than 220 stores have won union elections since December.
Starbucks Workers United have called for Starbucks executives to testify before Congress on the company’s response to the union campaign.
Meanwhile, fired workers have described their treatment. Jaysin Saxton, who worked at Starbucks in Augusta, Georgia, for over three years, was fired on 16 August. His store began organizing in January, publicly announced in March, and won their union election overwhelmingly at the end of April.
Saxton said that a couple of months ago after a new manager was brought into the store, workers started receiving intense scrutiny and disciplinary measures.
“That’s when everything went downhill. They started writing people up a lot, ranging from documented coachings and final written warnings so workers couldn’t transfer or be promoted,” said Saxton. “They surveil us. It’s insane. They just created this intense culture of fear in the store and are trying to push us all out.”
In July, Saxton led a march on the boss to present a list of demands from the workers, a protest that managers shut down. Saxton said he was fired over claims he was disruptive during the protest.
“I expressed to my district manager that I was being treated as the stereotypical angry black man,” said Saxton over how he was treated by managers for trying to address issues and grievances workers were experiencing in the store.
About a month later, Saxton received a call from his manager telling him he was being terminated, though he said he hadn’t received any write-up or discipline from the protest before the call. He immediately filed the paperwork to submit an unfair labor practice charge allegation over his firing.
More than 80 strikes have been held by workers at Starbucks over unfair labor practice claims, firings of union leaders, withholding of benefits for unionized stores and delays in first contract negotiations. The union created a strike fund to help support workers on strike and several GoFundMe campaigns have been created to financially support union leaders who have faced termination.
Joselyn Chuquillanqui, 28, and a shift supervisor for seven years at Starbucks in Great Neck Plaza, New York, was fired in July for what she said was excessive write-ups for being late. She said after her store came up short by one vote in their union election in May, she had been pushed out by management.
“I was getting written up for being late by under five minutes,” said Chuqillanqui. “They tried to vilify me, implying I was getting paid by the union.”
Her co-workers and community supporters recently held a rally outside the Starbucks store in support of her and demanding her reinstatement, where dozens of supporters chanted “rehire Joselyn”. The union intends to file an unfair labor practice complaint over her firing.
Starbucks has denied all allegations of retaliation. A spokesperson said in an email: “These individuals are no longer with Starbucks for store policy violations. A partner’s interest in a union does not exempt them from the standards we have always held. We will continue enforcing our policies consistently for all partners.”
