New union shop and walkout highlight organizing drive
Seattle Starbucks workers scored another victory when workers at the Eastlake store voted unanimously to unionize. They join Starbucks workers at the company's flagship Reserve Roastery on Pike Street and the Denny and Broadway store in voting to be representing by Starbucks Workers United (SBWU).
That election victory makes 100 Starbucks locations that have already voted to unionize. Some 200 more have filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for a union election — so many, in fact, that the NLRB can't keep up with the demand for elections.
Meanwhile, Starbucks workers at the 1200 Westlake Avenue N. store staged a near-unanimous walkout on May 29. According to workers, only one supervisor and one manager were left to try to run the operation.
Workers at the Westlake Starbucks had previously shut down the store's drive-thru window twice. They complained about reduced hours and short-staffing, in addition to maintenance issues that resulted in unsafe working conditions.
"Stand in solidarity with the Westlake DT partners who bravely walked out yesterday at 1pm in protest against hour cuts and short-staffing, with management refusing to let them cease operations. We ceased it for them!" the local SBWU tweeted on May 30.
Starbucks has responded to the union drive with heavy-handed tactics. One casualty is Lindsey Price, a 17-year veteran of Starbucks. She was fired from the Eastlake store after four years there — apparently because of her union activism.
According to Price, she was notified on April 18 that she had violated company policy and consequently her employment was under review. She was not scheduled for any future shifts, depriving her of income. Finally, she was terminated without notice on April 29.
Starbucks then denied her unemployment claims on the pretext that she was fired for cause.
Price, who is completing her master's degree in library and information science, was described by co-workers as "an amazing, hard-working, and caring person."
"She was an anchor of the Eastlake Starbucks. Customers and employees loved her and felt supported by her," they added. A GoFundMe has been set up to help support her while she looks for a new job.
To date, 29 unfair labor practice complaints have been filed against Starbucks, charging the company with more than 200 separate violations of federal labor laws, most of them involving intimidation or retaliation against pro-union workers.