Clearwater Starbucks employees are claiming that a coworker was fired after she took the lead in forming a union last year.
Orlando Weekly Reporter McKenna Schueler reported on the issue, starting with a march against the firing at the coffee shop last month.
“So me being in Orlando, I wasn’t there physically, but I did receive photos and video footage from a couple of community allies that were there with the Pinellas Democratic Socialists of America, members that attended with coworkers of a worker that was allegedly fired in retaliation for her position or role with the union. So during this march on the boss, it was late April. Starbucks workers at this unionized Clearwater location read out speeches, just trying to share more information with the public about what had happened to one of their coworkers, who was known for being a union leader at their store. Somebody that other workers could go to to get updates about what was going on with contract negotiations and during their unionization effort, their drive last year, she was somebody that they could go to with questions about even what that process looks like. During this march on the boss, workers kind of just gathered together and just wanted to show her show solidarity with their coworker who had been fired. And it’s my understanding, based on video footage, that the manager of the store actually walked out. while they were doing this, but it’s my understanding that it was it was just probably a show of solidarity for their coworker who, they believe was fired unjustly. And it’s my understanding that the union nor the individual, they haven’t filed officially any sort of complaint with the company yet. They’re trying to, go through the company’s process and also just sort of in their in conversation with the union’s attorneys right now about what options they might have based on the circumstances,” Schueler told WMNF.
Schueler says that since the Starbucks union launched in 2021, there’s been tension nationwide, with thousands of allegations of unfair labor practices levied against Starbucks.
“So there’s been a lot of tension between the union and Starbucks over the course of this multi-year organizing campaign. So the organizing drive at Starbucks broadly launched back in 2021. And it was this really worker-led. grassroots effort that caught the attention of a lot of people, especially, with the company being Starbucks, this, you know, very well-known company, and also just seeing an organizing drive in an industry that is typically considered very difficult to organize just because of all these logistical barriers. And so over the course of the past few years, there have been hundreds, I’ve heard, even thousands of allegations of unfair labor practices levied against Starbucks. And unfair labor practices are violations – alleged violations – of federal labor law. And so, over the course of the past few years, since 2021, the union told me that they allege that more than 300 Starbucks workers across the country at different stores have been allegedly fired in retaliation for their union activity. But there have been other allegations, too, in terms of, retaliatory acts against workers who are unionizing at Starbucks,” Schueler said.
In Scheuler’s article, first published in Creative Loafing, Starbucks says no employee ‘has been or will be disciplined or separated for supporting, organizing, or otherwise engaging in lawful union activity.’
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