A Starbucks employee at a store in Anderson, South Carolina, submitted a letter of demand to a store manager on August 1 and has since gained millions of views on TikTok doing.
Workers at this store were the first to unionize in the South in an 18-to-0 unanimous vote, with more than 200 unions representing thousands of workers. joined a corporate-owned retail store. coffee giant.
The video shows a so-called "marching to the boss" action, in which the store manager rises from the table and one of the employees leaves for the store entrance. dab one of him.
According to Starbucks Workers United, a union campaign to support Starbucks employees, the store manager filed charges with local police for assault and kidnapping of store employees.
Starbucks closed stores without notice, suspended employees, and banned visitors from visiting other Starbucks stores, according to union lawyers.
According to an Aug. 9 statement from Starbucks to The Independent, the incident in question occurred on the manager's "first day of work at this location" and that "the manager Felt threatened and felt unsafe.Results of implementation by 11 store partners.
"We have launched an investigation and stopped paying the partners involved in the incident," the statement said. The store manager later filed a report with law enforcement, who instructed Starbucks to refrain from contacting the 11 partners until the investigation was completed. We will continue to cooperate with and comply with their demands.”
Five allegations of misconduct against Starbucks have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board, according to union attorney Ian Hayes.
"Workers have the right to do what they did, and companies are violating that right by retaliating against them," he said in his Aug. 8 virtual briefing. told reporters.
"This was all a reaction to actions protected under the law," he said. "The company's response to it is treating workers like criminals... robbing them of their livelihoods and preventing them from engaging with other workers."
Starbucks workers Natalie Mann, one of about 30 workers and supporters protesting outside her store on Monday, said: I don't care if you want to fire me. I will keep fighting.
In their letter, the workers demanded better facilities to perform their jobs and wage increases promised to other non-union workers by the end of the month.
Starbucks pledged to spend $1 billion on pay increases, training, and store upgrades this year, but "workers are forced to seek union representation." Federal law requires and prohibits good faith negotiations on wages, benefits, and working conditions in the stores we work in. Starbucks does not make or announce unilateral changes. ' said the company's statement.
South Carolina store union members claim management refused to grant unions and demands in latest letter.
Six-minute recording of meeting In , a manager appears to be on the phone with Starbucks management, and an employee presents a letter.
``We are here today because Starbucks is demanding the pay increases it promised to all employees,'' an employee was heard saying. "We are not going to move until some action is taken to raise wages." increase. Other employees say yes.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has backed Starbucks' union campaign, called the company's latest operation "outrageous." The campaign must end," he said.
A year ago, none of the Starbucks corporate-owned retail coffee shops had unionized employees. Today, that number exceeds 5,000.
The National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that oversees union efforts, has identified a wide range of issues at the company, from unlawfully dismissing employees to launching a pressure campaign to stop employees from unionizing.
A 45-page government complaint from the Buffalo, New York area dismisses six workers. It alleges a series of violations among Starbucks management in retaliation for union support, including There were allegations of workers opposing the union, monitoring conversations about unions and interrogating workers, inconsistent enforcement of store policies, and closing stores entirely.
This complaint is the result of dozens of allegations of unfair labor practices filed by union organizers since November 2021.
At a conference in June, CEO Howard Schultz said that while the company was "not anti-union", unions were historically "the way companies in the '40s, '50s and '60s were."
"We are not in the mining business, and we are not abusing our employees," Schultz said. said. "We do not believe that a third party should lead our people. Therefore, we are fighting for the hearts and minds of the people."
Labor Organizations Lynn Fox, president of the organization Workers United, told reporters on Monday that Starbucks "continues to escalate the anti-union movement to an unimaginable extent", calling it "false and ridiculous" and "unfounded attacks." I condemned the attack," he said. "Abuse of the legal system" punishing workers who make demands to management.
