‘They don’t care about us’: US Starbucks workers allege they were fired for union activity

theguardian.com:

Nine Starbucks workers at three stores in Denver, Colorado, who were fired shortly after their stores voted to unionize allege they were dismissed in retaliation for union organizing at the American coffee chain giant.

The firings are among a few dozen cases around the US where workers have alleged they have been fired from the coffee retail chain during a union organizing campaign at their store. More than 180 Starbucks corporate retail stores in the US have voted to unionize, and more than 300 have filed for union elections.

Ryan Dinaro, a shift supervisor at the 16th and Tremont store in Denver who worked at Starbucks for around four years, was fired shortly after his store won their union election in May, along with four other workers at his store, and five others at two other Denver stores according to the union.

Dinaro explained the union organizing campaign started in January after seeing Starbucks workers in Buffalo, New York, win their union election in December 2021. He said they were organizing in response to safety concerns, policy changes and pay problems as inflation and rising prices hit Dinaro and his co-workers.

“Partners are selling their blood at the store, myself included, I’ve sold my blood to get some extra money,” said Dinaro. “What we’re simply asking for is safety in the workplace, adequate pay to address the strain inflation is placing on us and the ability to have a say on unilateral policy changes that affect us.”

He argued that leading up to the union election and after it, Starbucks increased management presence in stores and began strictly enforcing company policies, where nine workers involved in union organizing at the stores in Denver were fired in just a few weeks after the union election