Nov. 17, 2022 "Workers at 100 U.S. Starbucks locations walk off the job in unionization push": Today I found this article by CBC:
Workers at more than 100 U.S. Starbucks stores are on strike Thursday in their largest labour action since a campaign to unionize the company's stores began late last year.
The walkouts coincide with Starbucks' annual Red Cup Day, when the company gives free reusable cups to customers who order a holiday drink. Workers say it's often one of the busiest days of the year. Starbucks declined to say how many red cups it plans to distribute.
Workers say they're seeking better pay, more consistent schedules and higher staffing levels in busy stores.
Stores in 25 states planned to take part in the labour action, according to Starbucks Workers United, the group organizing the effort. Strikers are handing out their own red cups with union logos.
Starbucks, which opposes the unionization effort, said it is aware of the walkouts and respects its employees' right to lawfully protest. The Seattle company noted that the protests are happening at a small number of its 9,000 company-run U.S. locations.
"We remain committed to all partners and will continue to work together, side-by-side, to make Starbucks a company that works for everyone," the company said Thursday in a statement.
Some workers planned to picket all day while others will do shorter walkouts. The union said the goal is to shut stores down during the strikes, and noted that the company usually has difficulty staffing during Red Cup Day because it's so busy.
Willow Montana, a shift manager at a Starbucks store in Brighton, Mass., planned to strike because Starbucks hasn't begun bargaining with the store despite a successful union vote in April.
"If the company won't bargain in good faith, why should we come to work where we are understaffed, underpaid and overworked?" Montana said.
Others, including Michelle Eisen, a union organizer at one of the first stores to organize in Buffalo, N.Y., said workers are angry that Starbucks promised higher pay and benefits to non-union stores.
Starbucks says it is following the law and can't give union stores pay hikes without bargaining.
At least 257 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late last year, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Fifty-seven stores have held votes where workers opted not to unionize.
Talks at several dozen locations
Starbucks and the union have begun contract talks at 53 stores, with 13 additional sessions scheduled, Starbucks Workers United said. No agreements have been reached so far.
The process has been contentious.
Earlier this week, a regional director with the NLRB filed a request for an injunction against Starbucks in federal court, saying the company violated labour law when it fired a union organizer in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The regional director asked the court to direct Starbucks to reinstate the employee and stop interfering in the unionization campaign nationwide.
It was the fourth time the NLRB has asked a federal court to intervene.
In August, a federal judge ruled that Starbucks had to reinstate seven union organizers who were fired in Memphis. A similar case in Buffalo has yet to be decided, while a federal judge ruled against the NLRB in a case in Phoenix.
Meanwhile, Starbucks has asked the NLRB to temporarily suspend all union elections at its U.S. stores, citing allegations from a board employee that regional officials improperly co-ordinated with union organizers. A decision in that case is pending.
Workers at 100 U.S. Starbucks locations walk off the job in unionization push | CBC News
Dec. 16, 2022 "U.S. Starbucks staff begin three-day strike as contract talks sour": Today I found this article by Josh Eidelson on BNN Bloomberg:
Starbucks Corp. baristas at 60 locations throughout the U.S. started a three-day strike on Friday, saying the company isn’t bargaining fairly with recently unionized stores.
Organizers say the strike involves more than 1,000 workers, making it the biggest multiday work stoppage ever by Starbucks Workers United, the labor group that’s prevailed in elections at about 270 of the chain’s cafés this year. Workers at a few dozen locations that aren’t stopping work for all three days plan to support the effort by striking for a day or two, according to the union.
The walkout underlines the rising tension between the coffee giant and its union employees, who have tried to secure a collective-bargaining agreement for more than a year without success.
“We just want to show Starbucks that we’re going to continue escalating until they respect our right to organize and actually come to the table to bargain in good faith,” said Maggie Carter, a leader in the nationwide union campaign. “As long as Starbucks continues to fight us, we’re going to continue to fight back.”
Shares of Starbucks fell as much as 1.9 per cent in New York on Friday.
The coffee chain said the vast majority of its stores where employees were protesting have remained open for business.
“It is unfortunate that Workers United continues to spread misleading claims,” Starbucks spokesperson Andrew Trull said in an emailed statement. “We remain focused on working together and engaging meaningfully and directly with the union to make Starbucks a company that works for everyone.”
Carter said union contract talks at her Knoxville, Tennessee, store began last week and ended within minutes when company representatives walked out over a dispute about the union’s desire for some workers to be able to participate via Zoom.
Organizers around the country have been pushing Starbucks for better pay and protections against benefit cuts, among other things. Carter’s location isn’t part of the strike, but she is helping coordinate the work stoppage.
Lawmakers including Senator Bernie Sanders tweeted their support for the strike on Friday.
While the campaign has so far organized only a small fraction of Starbucks’s 9,000 corporate-run U.S. locations, it has spread rapidly across the country this year.
It helped inspire similar first-ever organizing victories at other companies, such as Apple Inc., Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and Trader Joe’s Co.
However, the pace of new Starbucks unionization petitions has slowed in recent months, as workers allege the company has been retaliating in stores and stonewalling them at the bargaining table.
Starbucks Workers United won its first election at a café in Buffalo, New York, a year ago, and those workers still don’t have a union contract.
U.S. National Labor Relations Board regional directors have issued dozens of complaints accusing Starbucks of breaking the law to defeat the union campaign, including by excluding unionized stores from new benefits.
Agency judges recently ordered the company to reinstate fired activists in Michigan and Kansas, and a federal judge issued an injunction ordering the reinstatement of seven union supporters at a Memphis, Tennessee, store. NLRB members ruled last month that Starbucks illegally refused to negotiate with the union at a café in its Seattle hometown.
Starbucks has denied wrongdoing and said that all claims of anti-union activity are “categorically false.” The company has filed its own claims with the NLRB accusing the union of refusing to negotiate in good faith.
Workers previously held a one-day strike last month, in which the union said around 110 stores participated.
Pro-union employees see pressure from the public as leverage to help them win concessions from the company.
The union has so far stopped short of calling for a general Starbucks boycott, but this month urged customers not to purchase the company’s gift cards this holiday season.
U.S. Starbucks staff begin three-day strike as contract talks sour - BNN Bloomberg
My opinion: These articles reminds me of this comment. Starbucks is closing down a lot of their stores that are unionized.
"#MeToo movement becomes #WeToo in in victim-blaming Japan"/ "Outrage as women in Japan told not wear glasses in the workplace"
Aug. 17, 2020 Saying: I found this on Facebook:
"You never look good when you are trying to make someone else look bad."- Unknown
Cham: Sometimes people need to be exposed for who they are hahah or maybe I should stop being petty
Tracy Au: There's a difference between trying to make someone look bad, and exposing them for who they are. It's like those #MeToo accusers and victims, they are plainly telling everybody about the perpetrators. They're not trying to make them look bad.
https://badcb.blogspot.com/2020/08/job-articles-wetoo-gender-gap-done.html
No comments:
Post a Comment