Bloomfield Starbucks employees announce unionization drive

Employees at the Bloomfield branch of Starbucks announced the start of a campaign to unionize their store on Feb. 11, decrying Starbucks’ firing of seven employees at a Memphis, Tenn. store also attempting to unionize. The Bloomfield Starbucks Organizing Committee are the first Starbucks employees in Pittsburgh to request a union election from the National Labor Relations Board, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania Joint Board. In order to successfully certify their union, a majority of employees must vote in its favor.

Starbucks spokesperson Reggie Borges told The Washington Post that the Memphis firings were unrelated to the store’s efforts to unionize, citing instead “significant violations” of safety and security policies, which, the Post reported, included remaining in the store after hours with non-employees for an interview with local media.

In an open letter to Starbucks’ CEO Kevin Johnson, the Bloomfield Starbucks Organizing Committee outlined their solidarity with Memphis partners as well as a series of grievances with the company, including low pay and poor working conditions.

“In the Starbucks boardroom there is an empty chair, symbolizing us: the baristas and play-callers who cannot be at the table,” the Bloomfield Starbucks Organizing Committee writes in the open letter.

Read more: https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/bloomfield-starbucks-employees-announce-unionization-drive/Content?oid=21094971