Starbucks on Tuesday fired employees at a cafe in Memphis, in the central US, who were planning to join Starbucks Workers United (SWU), the country’s first newly formed chain of workers.
She formally charged the seven employees who were fired for violating her bylaws, allowing journalists to enter her store overtime to give interviews, a group spokesman told AFP.
It was above all a “retaliation” to the workers because they wanted the union to expand to the branch, SWU countered in a statement.
“I was never spoken to, they were not mentioned,” said Stickucks, who was in charge of the shift at Poplar & Highland, which is among the people fired.
“This is a clear attempt by Starbucks to retaliate against those who fight to have a union in the store and to intimidate other employees,” he added, according to a union statement.
Appeals will be filed with the Federal Office of Labor (NLRB), the organization said.
According to Starbucks, the dismissed employees did not follow the prescribed procedures for closing the store and allowed non-staff, journalists, and employees on leave to enter the cafe. The company assured that its employees knew that the violation of the regulation was a reason for immediate dismissal.
The company “respects the right of (its) employees to join a union” and “does not engage in any anti-union action,” a Starbucks spokesman told AFP yesterday. But “she expects her employees to follow the regulations of (her) stores,” he added.
The December approval of a union by a majority of two Starbucks coffee shop employees in Buffalo, near the Canadian border, had sparked excitement.
Starbucks had mobilized the big media to prevent them, sending executives to the area and multiplying its appeals to the NLRB. Nevertheless, the SWU entered two of the three cafes where voting took place and now the employees of more than 50 more are actively seeking to join it.
The union announced that it had set up a special fund to support the dismissed employees. Hours later, nearly $ 25,000 had been raised.
See all the news
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
