Alicia Flores had worked at Starbucks in Portland, Oregon, for seven years until June, when she received a voicemail from a manager – filling in for her usual boss, who was taking a leave of absence – who informed her she was being fired.
Flores is far from alone.
She is one of dozens of workers who have filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the coffee giant, alleging they were fired in retaliation for union organizing. Starbucks Workers United have claimed that more than 200 workers since December 2021 have been fired, and that several more have been pushed out in retaliation for union activity.
According to the NLRB, decisions by board members, administrative law judges, federal district judges and federal appellate judges have ordered reinstatement of 28 Starbucks workers.
Last year, Flores got involved in a union campaign at her store. When Starbucks began enforcing work policies rigidly, she pushed back on management conduct that included removing union literature.
Flores said she had never received any corrective action until that day, in December 2022. She even demoted herself to a barista to try to protect herself from further disciplinary action.
Flores said: “The documentation that I got fired … it’s literally two sentences. It just states that I was under investigation, and due to the outcome of the investigation – and then it states what it was – it states it was sexual harassment, saying I sent an explicit picture to a co-worker. Which makes it sound like I sent a naked picture of myself! But I sent a picture of Lana Del Rey’s album cover, so I got fired for that.”
She added: “I got fired over voicemail. It was very dystopian. The manager said, ‘Thank you, have a nice day.’ How am I going to have a nice day after getting a voicemail where I just got fired?”
Flores recently filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB, alleging her firing was retaliation for her union organizing activity.
“I’m going to try to get my job back. I know I’m going to get my job back, but this is psychological warfare. Starbucks doesn’t know what this is doing to people’s mental health, and it’s kind of ironic because the company prides itself on being pro-mental health,” added Flores.
Throughout the Starbucks unionizing campaign, starting in late 2021, the NLRB has fielded hundreds of unfair labor practice charges from workers and their union against Starbucks.
Some 73 complaints are pending before administrative law judges, and regional NLRB offices have issued 100 complaints covering 357 unfair labor practice charges following investigations. A staggering 633 open or settled unfair labor practice charges have been docketed against Starbucks by NLRB regional offices.
But the union drive goes on. The NLRB has certified union election wins at more than 340 Starbucks locations in 39 states plus Washington DC, representing more than 8,500 workers, though little progress toward a first union contract has been made.
“Starbucks has become the worst offender of federal labor law in modern US history, with 200+ violations and counting,” said Starbucks Workers United in a statement. “In the court of public opinion and the court of law, Starbucks is beginning to pay a price for their actions.”
Workers at Starbucks continue to file unfair labor practice charges.
Haya Odeh worked as a barista for more than two years and helped to unionize her store in Wilmington, North Carolina. She said she was effectively fired after she attempted to transfer to one of the Starbucks locations in the Chapel Hill area where she would be attending school.
“I was threatened, basically, that I wouldn’t be able to transfer if I organized, by my district manager, and I guess he kept his promise on his threat,” said Odeh. “I applied to three different stores separately. Two of those three, I’ve talked to the store manager in person, and they were like, yes, we’re hiring.
“Talking to these managers, they’re saying they’re looking for baristas, I give them my name and then suddenly, a day or two later, they’ll call me back and tell me that when they were talking to their district manager, it seems that they’re no longer needing any baristas for hire. And that’s weird.”
Odeh’s transfer denial effectively ended her employment at Starbucks. She moved to Chapel Hill to finish her college degree, and wants to continue on to law school to become a labor attorney. Odeh recently filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB.
Celeste Cruz worked at Starbucks as a shift supervisor in Montclair, New Jersey, for five years and filed an unfair labor practice charge last month over her exit from the company.
She said since her store unionized last year, she faced retaliation from management for her role in the campaign.
“I couldn’t take it any more. My store manager was making it very difficult for me, and I ended up finding a new job. I gave her my two weeks, respectfully, with a piece of paper, and I thanked her for the opportunity, and not too long afterward, they essentially terminated me and did not let me finish out my two weeks,” said Cruz.
She claimed her role as an observer for the union during her store’s union election ballot count, and her outspokenness in favor of the union, made her a target, and that she was made to feel uncomfortable and cornered by management. Despite her leaving, Cruz expressed solidarity with the union effort at her store and other stores nearby that have unionized, saying the movement will ultimately be successful for workers despite the company’s opposition.
“I have a question for Starbucks: if we are your partners, why are you so scared to sit down? Why are you running away from us when we’re trying to just simply give you our proposals? I think that just speaks volumes about the bad-faith bargaining,” concluded Cruz.
“Starbucks’ tactics are merely slowing us down. We’re going to hit harder and faster, and we’re not going to be quiet, we’re going to be loud about this.”
A spokesperson for Starbucks disputed the allegations of unfair labor practices.
“We believe the allegations made by Workers United are meritless, and that actions taken were both lawful and in alignment with long-established partner policies – not in retaliation for any partners’ participation in, or support of, union activities,” the spokesperson said.
They added: “As a company, we respect our partners’ right to organize and to engage in lawful union activities without fear of reprisal or retaliation. Starbucks trains managers that no partner will be disciplined for engaging in lawful union activity and that there will be no tolerance for any unlawful anti-union behavior.”
