Photo: JASON REDMOND / Getty Images
At least 85 Starbucks workers involved in efforts to create an organization union have been fired from the company in recent months , according to the group of workers Starbucks Workers United .
Jaysin Saxton, who is among the group of laid-off employees and worked at Starbucks in Augusta, Georgia, for more than three years, was fired on 16 August. His store began organizing in January, was publicly announced in March, and won the union elections in late April.
Saxton said that a couple of months ago, after a new manager was brought into the store, workers began to receive intense scrutiny and disciplinary action.
“They are watching us. It’s crazy. They just created this intense culture of fear in the store and they are trying to get us all out,” he said. .
Workers have filed numerous complaints for unfair labor practices due to dismissals and a federal judge recently ordered the reinstatement of seven workers in Memphis, Tennessee, who were laid off in February, a ruling Starbucks has said it will appeal.
Furthermore, employees have organized 80 strikes for dismissal of union leaders, retention of benefits for unionized stores and delays in the negotiations of the first contract .
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued 21 official complaints against Starbucks, including 81 charges and 548 allegations of violations of the labor law that are currently under review.
Starbucks accused the NLRB to favor the union campaign and called for union elections to be temporarily suspended. The company has opposed unionization efforts despite more than 220 stores have won union elections since December.
Starbucks He has denied all accusations of retaliation. A spokesperson said in an email: “These individuals are no longer with Starbucks for violations of store policy. The interest of a partner in a union does not exempt him from the rules that we have always had. We will continue to enforce our policies consistently for all partners”.
The union created a strike fund to help support unemployed workers and several GoFundMe campaigns have been created to support union leaders financially
who have faced layoffs.
You can also interest:
– Starbucks pulls chicken sandwich after diarrhea complaints
– Starbucks will close 16 stores due to security “incidents” that threaten its workers
– ‘Starbucks store closure seeks to bust the union,’ they say union leaders