Starbucks closed a store in what the union called retaliation

Since the COVID-19 epidemic was alleviated, the demand for coffee has become more and more exuberant. Due to the sharp increase in workload, understaffing and poor equipment of Starbucks partners in the United States, the problems were not solved after feedback. Soon, with the rise of Starbucks unionized activities, more and more American stores and partners participated in and voted for Starbucks unionized activities. Starbucks will close a store in Ithaca, New York, on June 10, local time, attracting opposition from trade unions.

Starbucks unions have filed a lawsuit against Starbucks, accusing Starbucks of illegally closing a recently unionized cafe, Bloomberg reported. Starbucks's move has intensified hostility between Starbucks coffee chains and rapidly spreading unionized activities.

In a document filed by the National Labor Relations Board (National Labor Relations Board) on May 27th local time, the American Workers Union accused Starbucks of announcing the permanent closure of a store in Ithaca, New York, in violation of federal labor laws and of retaliation for workers' union activities.

Starbucks responded that the store closures had nothing to do with union activities, but were caused by store facilities, staff and "time and attendance" problems.

In an interview with 14850 Magazine, a local magazine in Ithaca, a barista said that since the union vote this spring, employees' shifts have been reduced because there are not enough shift supervisors to work longer hours. the business hours of coffee shops have been shortened from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Employees work 4 to 12 hours a week, do not have enough income to cope with the rising prices of daily necessities and gasoline, and are not eligible for health care benefits. 20 hours of working hours are needed to continue to enjoy Starbucks employee benefits.

"opening and closing stores is part of the company's day-to-day operations," said Reggie Borges, a spokesman for Starbucks. With deep concern, Starbucks strives to work in a modest and urgent manner to create a store environment that meets the expectations of its employees and customers. "

Staff at the Starbucks store, near Cornell University's campus, went on strike in April on the grounds of a "waste emergency caused by a grease trap spill", claiming that waste water and oil from the grease trap spilled on the ground, causing safety risks to the store, according to NPR.

The union suggested seeking help from the federal court to issue an injunction to stop or reverse store closures more quickly.

Evan Sunshine, an employee of Starbucks, said in an email sent by the union that Starbucks will not retaliate against us like this. No matter what the cost and how long it takes, we will stick to it. (Starbucks won't get away with retaliating against us like this, whatever it takes, however long it may take, we will persevere.)

Allen Alan Model, a Starbucks lawyer who informed the union of the planned closure of the store in an email on Friday, said Starbucks wanted to negotiate with the union on the impact of the closure on employees. He wrote: as you know, this store has a lot of problems (such as grease traps) and there is no point in continuing to run the store (As you know, there have been many issues with regard to the condition of the store (e.g.the grease trap) and it does not make sense to further operate the store,).

Since December, when a Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, was successfully unionized, more than 100 Starbucks stores in the United States have been unionized with the help of Workers United.

Workers United is setting up a $1 million fund to make up for the wage losses of baristas who took part in the strike, CNBC reported.

Earlier, Workers United had filed at least 175 complaints about unfair labour practices at Starbucks, while Starbucks denied wrongdoing.

Photo Source: Internet

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