Starbucks fired a worker at its store in Dallas' Mockingbird Station store last week in what employees say is a reaction against their efforts to unionize. The coffee giant says it was just following its policies.
“We expect further retaliation as our election draws closer, and the company can expect a commensurate response from us,” the store’s union Twitter page tweeted the day of the firing.
The firing comes at a time when Starbucks is embattled with complaints of union busting around the country amidst a wave of organizing efforts. There are 300 stores that have petitioned to unionize and 169 that have won their elections to date around the U.S., according to Starbucks Workers United, a group supporting national organizing efforts.
Currently three stores in DFW are publicly pushing to unionize, including shops in Addison and Denton. Workers at the Mockingbird Station store filed their petition in late May and their election is scheduled for July 6.
Nelly Sanchez, the worker the store fired, said she arrived late several times in recent months and that management warned her multiple times. But her termination “came as a surprise.”
“The timing of it, and based on the last time I was warned, it just seemed wrong,” said Sanchez.
Management’s last warning to Sanchez came at least a month before they fired her. Sanchez said she didn’t know it was meant to be a final warning.
Her last day at the job was June 14, about three weeks after the store sent in its union petition.
Some coworkers said they interpret Sanchez’s firing as a move to choke off their union drive, especially given other actions the store is taking.
One-on-one meetings with management about the cons of unionizing are becoming more frequent and a sign went up in the store telling workers they’re not obliged to speak with union representatives, they said.
Nikita Russell, 32, who signed the petition, said she received a written warning last week for being late. The warning took her off guard - it came almost two weeks after the day she was 15 minutes tardy. She said it was abnormally harsh compared to how they enforced rules in the past.
“We’ve all been late sometimes before we started organizing,” said Russell, who recently filed an Unfair Labor Practices charge against the store.
Starbucks spokesperson Reggie Borges said the actions are in line with their policies and have nothing to do with the workers’ decision to try and unionize.
“A partner has every right to organize, has every right to unionize,” said Borges, using Starbucks’s preferred term for employees. “I would deny any suggestion that we’re escalating or we’re being more strict with the policies. We follow our policies consistently and we give our partners the opportunity to correct behavior.”
Workers at the store began talking about unionization after Starbucks cut their hours several months ago - in some cases from 40 hours per week to 25 hours per week, said Sanchez. They filed their petition in late May.
Sanchez, a 26-year-old culinary school graduate, was one of the most tenured employees at the store, where she worked for six and a half years. She got healthcare benefits from the job but also had side gigs, which she said became especially important after the store cut her hours, something she and Russell said happened to other employees there as well.
The cut in hours was a major reason they started organizing, they said.
“My whole point was to change [the store] for the future, to show corporations they can’t take advantage of us just because we need jobs,” said Sanchez.
She was known to be a key union organizer by everyone at the store, according to Russell.
“If they got rid of her it was going to be demoralizing for all of us,” said Russell. “She was an easy target.”
Grant Hayden, a law professor at SMU who specializes in labor law, said Sanchez’s firing falls into a pattern of union-busting tactics Starbucks has used at other shops.
“This of course takes place against the backdrop of Starbucks nationwide, which has launched a vicious anti-union campaign,” he said, pointing out that Starbucks hired Little-Mendelson P.C., a law firm known for busting unions, and that “this kind of behavior is part and parcel of what they’re probably advising Starbucks to do.”
The National Labor Relations Board has issued multiple complaints and lawsuits against the coffee chain for what it says are attempts to stop stores from organizing unions. The labor board’s regional branch in Buffalo, New York, recently asked a federal court to force Starbucks to rehire seven workers it fired in the city.
Russell, a mother of two who also helps support her parents, said that while morale dipped at the store after Sanchez’s firing, support from the public is keeping them motivated. The store frequently receives mobile orders under the name “union strong” and has also gotten a nod from Dallas City Council member Jesse Moreno.
Frequent emails from workers at other stores in the region asking how to organize also gives them a boost.
“The interest is only growing,” she said.
