Posts tagged Memphis Seven
Op-Ed: The Supreme Court Ruling in the Starbucks Case Proves the Law Won’t Save Labor
June 17, 2024 // As a union organizer and Starbucks worker, I’ve seen the effects of corporate retaliation up close. In December 2020, I took a job at the Elmwood Avenue Starbucks in Buffalo, with the goal of unionizing my workplace. A year later, our store voted to become the first unionized corporate Starbucks location in the United States, sparking a wave of organizing across the company. In response to our union campaign, Starbucks unleashed a union-busting effort that began with managers and executives swarming our stores in Buffalo and escalated to firings (including my own), store closings, and the withholding of new benefits, like seniority pay and credit card tipping, from unionized stores nationwide.
Supreme Court to hear Starbucks case about fired pro-union employees
April 24, 2024 // After investigating, an NLRB regional director issued an unfair labor practice complaint. The agency then sought an injunction to get the company to rehire the employees, under section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act. A U.S. district court judge granted the injunction and the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision. Starbucks said the workers were fired for violating company policy when they invited local journalists into a closed store and appealed the case to the high court.
The Supreme Court is getting involved in the fight over unionizing at Starbucks
January 25, 2024 // HSU: Starbucks said the workers had violated multiple company policies, including by allowing a TV crew into the store after hours. The workers believe they were fired because they were trying to unionize. Florentino Escobar is one of the Memphis Seven. He calls what's happening now a war. FLORENTINO ESCOBAR: Not only with us, but I feel like now it's with all U.S. workers.
‘Memphis Seven’ officially reinstated at Starbucks after unionizing
October 24, 2022 // “These individuals violated numerous policies and failed to maintain a secure work environment and safety standards,” the company said in a statement Thursday. “Interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies that are in place to protect partners, our customers and the communities we serve.” Still, the NLRB and the fired workers told the court that Starbucks had routinely tolerated off-duty employees and non-employees remaining in the store after hours to make drinks, collect belongings or assist each other. “Such tolerance before union activity, but terminations resulting thereafter, supports an inference of discriminatory motive," the judge wrote.
7 fired Starbucks workers celebrate union vote in Memphis
June 8, 2022 // Seattle-based Starbucks has 9,000 company-run U.S. stores. Nationally, the NLRB has received 280 union petitions for Starbucks locations, board spokeswoman Kayla Blado said. Of 149 vote counts, 122 locations have voted for a union and 79 have been certified, Blado said. Nikki Taylor, Beto Sanchez,