Starbucks Fires Employees At Memphis, Tennessee For Union Activities

(RTTNews) - Coffee giant Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) is said to have fired several workers in Memphis, Tennessee, who were members of the expanding unionization effort, which has been fast spreading through the coffee chain.

The union, known as Starbucks Workers United, said on Tuesday that the company had dismissed "virtually the entire union leadership in Memphis," terming it as punishment for their union activities. The group said that in total seven, or about a third of the workers at the store, were fired.

The campaign said, "The arc of Starbucks' union-busting is long, but it bends toward losing."

Commenting on the developments, a Starbucks spokesperson said that the company did not fire workers for organizing unions, but for violating safety and security protocols. He added that workers opened the locked store after close of business without permission and let non-employees in.

The spokesperson said that he wanted to make it "unequivocally clear" that the company didn't fire the workers for talking to the media. "To suggest that is to completely ignore the clear violations of known policies that these partners openly acknowledged they were aware of as part of this investigation," he added.

Employees at the store, however, have a different story to tell. Nikki Taylor, a shift supervisor at the store, said in a statement through the union that she was "fired by Starbucks today for policies that I've never heard of before." She termed the firing as a "clear attempt by Starbucks to retaliate."

Since some time, Starbucks employees have teamed up with the union Workers United, to file unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board over the firings. The union argues that the workers were specifically targeted because of their union support.

According to union workers, such cases often depend on how religiously the company has enforced the policies it gave as reasons for the terminations — that is, whether other workers have been fired for opening the store outside of shift hours, or for letting non-employees into the store without permission. If these are not proven then the union is correct in its stand that the workers were targeted because of their affiliation to the union.

The Starbucks union campaign started in the state of Buffalo in 2021, where the union was victorious in elections at two stores, thus leading to the only unionized corporate-owned Starbucks stores across the U.S. The campaign has since then become popular, with workers at more than 50 other stores petitioning the labor board for elections.

Starbucks, on its part, has been doing all it can to slow the growth of unions in stores. The company has employed over 30 lawyers on the election cases at the labor board, and store managers are talking regularly with workers to discourage the formation of unions.