ARLINGTON, Va. ― Sam Dukore had unfortunate news for regular customers at his Starbucks store in Arlington, Virginia, on Wednesday. The company’s union crackdown had prompted workers to go on strike and close the store for a day, Dukore told them.
“Sorry, Curtis!” she yelled at a customer heading for the closed doors.
The cafe in Arlington’s Court House neighborhood was one of more than 100 Starbucks stores across the country where workers participated in a one-day work stoppage, according to the baristas union, Workers United. The union said the workers were on strike over alleged unfair labor practices committed by the company.
Enough workers participated in the Courthouse strike that the store was apparently unable to function that day. A sign on the door said it was temporarily closed and urged customers to download the app to find open locations. Workers picketed outside all morning, handing out fliers about the dispute and accusing Starbucks of violating labor law.
“We have definitely seen it ourselves here. We don’t want to just take it,” Dukore said. “I love the food service. I want to be in this industry. But I’m not going to let them walk all over me.”
The stores affected by the strikes make up a small part of the 9,000 corporate-owned Starbucks locations in the United States. A Starbucks spokesperson said the company was able to keep most picket stores open with regular staff and baristas brought in from other cafes. The company accused the union of orchestrating a publicity stunt.
“Instead of posting rallies and protests, we encourage Workers United to meet its obligations by responding to our proposed sessions and meeting with us in person to move the bargaining process forward in good faith,” the company said in a statement.
The strikes come at a crucial time for the company and the union campaign, which has organized nearly 300 stores since late 2021. The company’s famous co-founder, Howard Schultz, just stepped down as interim CEO this week, replaced by Laxman Narasimhan, former CEO of Reckitt, which owns Lysol and Durex.
Schultz played a central role in fighting the union effort, making open calls on workers not to bargain collectively. Officials with the National Labor Relations Board have implicated him in several complaints accusing Starbucks of breaking the law by making promises and threats to discourage unionization.
Schultz is scheduled to appear before the US Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee next week to answer questions from lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), about the string of allegations. against Starbucks. sanders had threatened Schultz with a subpoena before reaching an agreement with Starbucks to have the outgoing CEO testify.
“The strikes come at a crucial time for the company and the union campaign.”
Starbucks is also scheduled to hold its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday. The union has encouraged investors to support the idea of an independent review of the Seattle-based company’s worker rights record. A pair of proxy advisory firms have urged shareholders to back the review, according to Reuters.
Workers United said Wednesday’s protests served as a “welcome” to the new chief executive and an invitation for the company to “stop its unprecedented campaign of union repression.”
Starbucks has denied threatening workers or breaking the law during the campaign. But now there are about 80 complaints against the company being litigated, and labor board administrative law judges have begun issuing official decisions on the cases.
A judge recently wrote in a decision that Starbucks had committed “egregious and widespread misconduct” in western New York, where the union effort began, including the illegal monitoring and dismissal of union supporters. The judge ordered the company to reinstate seven workers who lost their jobs. The company appealed the decision to the full labor board in Washington for review.
Dukore, a shift supervisor who has worked for Starbucks for 11 years, said workers at his store had experienced increased scrutiny from management since joining the union last year, including reprimands for attendance and code issues. of clothing that were not applied so much before. In several Starbucks cases, the general counsel for the labor board accused the company of selectively wielding policies against union supporters.
“They started to lower the dress code in a way that they hadn’t previously. Time and attendance started to drop,” said Dukore, a 37-year-old father. “People who are three minutes, five minutes late because of traffic or whatever, suddenly it’s become a problem. They try to wear you down to the point where you just want to quit.”
Dukore’s co-worker, Jayde Coler, 33, said she had been lectured several times about the dress code at the union store, something she had not experienced at a nearby non-union store where she had previously worked.
“Almost everyone in our store, if not all, has a final warning in writing for various things that were not enforced in the past or were applied lightly,” Coler said.
None of Starbucks’ corporate stores in the United States had union representation until the Workers United campaign began a year and a half ago. The union is now trying to negotiate contracts at the more than 280 stores that voted for union representation.
Securing a first contract can be a notoriously difficult process, sometimes taking years. Each Starbucks store will technically be bound by its own agreement, rather than a national contract, adding to the challenge of the negotiations. The general counsel of the labor board recently accused Starbucks of refusing to bargain with workers at more than 20 stores.
René Klerian, a Court House store worker who was protesting Wednesday, said lawmakers’ pressure on Schultz to appear before the Senate was a “step in the right direction.” He planned to see the testimony next Wednesday.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
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