How Starbucks tried to quash union activity in Colorado

On Feb a Starbucks manager pulled Michaela Sellaro aside for a meeting Just a scant weeks earlier Sellaro and a group of her fellow baristas at the coffee shop at East Colfax Ave in Denver informed the company s CEO that they planned to organize a union In the early afternoon at a table by the windows the store and district managers sat Sellaro down for a chat The message though light and breezy was clear You know Starbucks stance is that we don t need a union to represent our partners Kaylin Driscoll the district manager explained Sellaro according to a recording reviewed by The Denver Post Relationships with leadership will degrade if employees vote to organize the managers narrated her Promotions could be nixed Benefits might change The dynamic of having those conversations will change with a union declared Ariel Rodriguez the store s manager in the recording I have no personal desire to be part of a store that has to work through a union to have those conversations with you I have zero interest in that The East Colfax store which the company has since closed represents one of Starbucks cafes in Colorado that have unionized since despite the Seattle-based coffee giant s well-documented union-busting activity What started with one unionized store in Buffalo New York in has blossomed into a nationwide movement encompassing locations and thousands of workers around the United States Union supporter Pete DeMay of Chicago chants into a bullhorn along with other picketers during a labor organizing action at the Starbucks location at E Colfax Ave in Denver on Friday March Photo by Eric Lutzens The Denver Post Starbucks has nearly locations company-operated and licensed across the U S and Canada So far despite the rapid advance in organizing fewer than of Starbucks workers are employed in unionized stores Starbucks has fought these efforts tooth and nail along the way The National Labor Relations Board which regulates private sector union activity in the U S has unveiled the company illegally fired workers in response to organizing closed stores because of union votes and engaged in widespread unfair labor practices designed to quash workers efforts The coffee conglomerate is the biggest violator of labor law in modern history according to Starbucks Workers United the national union representing company workers The NLRB and its judges have ascertained Starbucks has committed more than labor law violations the union says Workers have filed more than unfair labor practice charges including more than since January More than unresolved charges remain Despite the hundreds of union votes over the past four years baristas are still working without a contract This month of union workers voted to authorize an open-ended unfair labor practices strike ahead of the holiday season The vote comes after six months of Starbucks refusing to offer new proposals to address workers demands for better staffing higher pay and a resolution of hundreds of unfair labor practice charges the union declared in a news release On Nov more than workers from stores in more than cities including Colorado Springs and Lafayette walked off the job The union revealed it was prepared to continue escalating its strikes if the company failed to deliver a new contract Union baristas mean business and are ready to do whatever it takes to win a fair contract and end Starbucks unfair labor practices disclosed Michelle Eisen a Starbucks Workers United spokesperson and -year veteran barista We want Starbucks to succeed but turning the company around and bringing customers back begins with listening to and supporting the baristas who are responsible for the Starbucks experience If Starbucks keeps stonewalling they should expect to see their business grind to a halt The ball is in Starbucks court The union s push comes amid a wave of constituents encouragement for organizing efforts More than two-thirds of American adults approve of labor unions according to Gallup polling a level last reached in the s and early s Aid remains especially strong among young people a demographic common for Starbucks baristas Starbucks representatives declined an interview request for this story Sara Kelly Starbucks chief partner officer narrated employees in a letter this month that the company had bargained in good faith with the union reaching more than tentative agreements on full contract articles Our commitment to bargaining hasn t changed Kelly wrote Workers United walked away from the table but if they are ready to come back we re ready to talk We believe we can move swiftly to a reasonable deal Starbucks she announced remains the best job in retail paying on average per hour for hourly workers once benefits are factored in The first Colorado union shop But employees at Colorado s first unionized cafe fleetly learned the extent to which Starbucks would go to dissuade organizing efforts It was and Len Harris a shift supervisor at a Starbucks location in Superior had just seen news of baristas in Buffalo forming the company s first union in the United States Harris didn t know much about labor organizing but she was intrigued She and her colleagues were sick of the low compensation of underscheduling and understaffing and of not learning their weekly schedules until the night before Harris connected with the Buffalo workers over Twitter and the resulting conversations helped launch the first Starbucks union efforts in Colorado A great number of of her colleagues were scared One speedily described management about the plans Within a week a rarely seen district manager suddenly indicated up at the store Harris reported Management organized an hour-long meeting about how the union was a bad idea she commented They laid it on thick Harris noted The day the workers officially filed with the NLRB the Marshall fire broke out in Boulder County As the blaze raged in Superior and Louisville the Starbucks employees continued to work Several staffers lost their own homes or were forced to evacuate Harris explained she got a call that night from her manager asking if she was OK Then she commented she was described to be at work first thing the next morning It was a total exploitation of us Harris noted As the vote neared Starbucks amped up its anti-union activity she revealed Management initiated more two-on-one meetings with staff members For multiple of the teenage baristas this represented one of their first jobs And here leadership was telling them that they wouldn t be able to transfer stores or enjoy the perks that nonunion employees would receive such as credit card tips Len Harris fires up the crowd during a rally at Trident Booksellers and Cafe in Boulder on Thursday July Harris helped to organize the first unionized Starbucks in Colorado in Superior before she was fired Matthew Jonas Boulder Daily Camera The individual intimidation was infuriating beyond belief Harris disclosed I was sick to my stomach that they were taking advantage of these younger workers to terrify them An executive flew in from Seattle and observed staff at work for weeks Harris explained Management started cutting workers hours In April of the employees at the Superior location voted in favor of forming the union The company though refused to negotiate with the newly formed body So they went on strike in November shutting down the store for the entire day The following day Starbucks fired Harris citing a framework about handling cash that she explained she had never heard of An administrative law judge with the NLRB later identified the company had illegally fired Harris based on her union activity She s still waiting for tens of thousands of dollars in court-ordered back pay I feel like I ve gotten a peek behind the curtain to the levels of depravity that the company will sink to to take advantage of their employees she stated The Starbucks playbook The tactics Starbucks used to try to quash worker organizing in Superior are part of the playbook deployed by company leadership across Colorado and the rest of the country according to interviews NLRB documents and news reports Emily Alice Dinaro started organizing a Starbucks location on Denver s th Street mall in because of what she saw as management s failure to protect staff from violence drug use and volatile customer interactions that were occurring daily After the union activity began management started enforcing existing rules more strictly while introducing new edicts she revealed Union supporters were singled out and these new enforcement approaches were used to push people out of the store Dinaro revealed Out of the -person staff workers signed union cards while of them signed a letter to the Starbucks CEO informing him of their endorsement But the implementation of these new rules concerning dress code cell phone use and cash handling among other things forced widespread turnover at the store Dinaro mentioned Only five people ended up voting in the union balloting which passed successfully Dinaro was fired shortly after the vote over what the company mentioned were repeated violations of its attendance and punctuality protocol In an NLRB judge ruled that Starbucks had fired her illegally due to her union activity When I first started at Starbucks I thought they were an outstanding virtuous company Dinaro mentioned I ve come to learn they just have an outstanding PR organization Starbucks barista Brenna Bellfield holds roses a symbol of the labor movement in front of the unionized East Colfax location of Starbucks in Denver Colorado on Saturday Jan Eli Imadali Special to The Denver Post A Starbucks spokesperson in a declaration to The Post this month mentioned the company respects our partners right to choose through a fair and democratic process to be represented by a union or not to be represented by a union But federal judges have repeatedly reported otherwise The NLRB time and again has ascertained that Starbucks violated the National Labor Relations Act in dealings with employees and their efforts to unionize The coffee giant shuttered a store in Colorado Springs in shortly after its workers voted to unionize and one day before a requested bargaining date The NLRB the following year ordered Starbucks to reopen that store along with others around the country because the company had failed to give notice to labor groups The NLRB invalidated another union electoral process at a different Colorado Springs location in finding that management threatened employees through highly coercive questioning and textbook unlawful interrogation One manager gave dire warnings to workers that unionized stores would not receive certain benefits such as pay raises In several instances Starbucks violated federal law by firing Colorado workers over pro-union engagements the NLRB identified The company has employed these same tactics to dissuade union activity across the country One judge wrote that the violations at stores in New York State were egregious and widespread and that Starbucks displayed a rich history of anti-union animus during the campaign Another judge wrote that it was only rational for employees to assume that they are risking their livelihood by organizing given Starbucks actions Federal labor regulators in required a court to force Starbucks to stop the company s virulent widespread and well-orchestrated response to employees protected organizing efforts Starbucks has refused to divulge how much it has spent on its response to worker organizing campaigns A federal judge in ordered the company to comply with a U S Department of Labor subpoena seeking expenditure documents for its study into the company s compliance with the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act We will not sit idly by when any company including Starbucks Corp defies our request to provide documents to make certain they are complying with the law Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda commented in a declaration at the time Howard Schultz the coffee chain s billionaire founder has noted the unionization drive felt like an attack on his life s work In previous speeches to his employees he has cast the union as a group trying to take our people an outside force that s trying desperately to disrupt our company and an adversary that s threatening the very essence of what we believe to be true Sharon Block a former NLRB member under President Obama and a professor at Harvard Law School stated the coffee giant has used a tried-and-true playbook to stifle union activity But with weak federal laws and a National Labor Relations Board that has been stunted by the Trump administration she mentioned there is little incentive for unscrupulous companies to play by the rules This is a continuing pattern of behavior that sends a signal to the workers that this is a company that will do almost anything to stop them she declared in an interview Starbucks has earned the distinction as a model for unlawful corporate union busting the Economic Initiative Institute a nonpartisan think tank wrote in a January article The National Labor Relations Act lacks teeth making companies more than willing to accept a sparse slaps on the wrist in order to achieve their broader goals the summary s author noted There is no mystery as to why corporations like Starbucks violate the law with such regularity Crime pays great dividends as it produces the desired chilling effect on worker organizing and as corporations consider the law s paltry sanctions an insignificant price to pay to prevent unionization through fear and disruption the article states The penalties for violating the law are utterly meaningless for multibillion-dollar corporations No contract no coffee Despite these aggressive union-busting efforts Starbucks workers continue to organize in Colorado and across the country Unionized shops in Colorado have grown to stores including five in Denver More than member stores have joined the cause since making the drive one of the fastest organizing efforts in modern history according to Starbucks Workers United Now workers want a contract The union and the company conducted their first bargaining session in April meeting monthly that summer In December however the union says Starbucks backtracked on the agreed-upon path forward Starbucks Workers United accused the company of failing to bargain in good faith In April the company rejected Starbucks package The two sides have yet to return to the bargaining table Workers voted overwhelmingly on Nov to authorize an open-ended unfair labor practice strike The union on Nov turned Starbucks Red Cup Day an annual free cup giveaway around the holiday season into a red cup rebellion forcing the closure of nearly all stores where workers were striking Starbucks Workers United mentioned they planned to continue escalating the strike warning that it could be the largest longest strike in company history if the company refuses to deliver a fair contract Colorado Sens John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet along with of their Senate colleagues wrote a letter this month to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol pushing the company to end its illegal union-busting efforts and negotiate a fair contract with its employees It is clear that Starbucks has the money to reach a fair agreement with its workers the senators wrote Starbucks must reverse unit from its current posture resolve its existing labor disputes and bargain a fair contract in good faith with these employees Jeremy Dixon right and Starbucks baristas picket outside a Starbucks store during a rally to demand a new union contract in Colorado Springs on Wednesday Oct Photo by Hyoung Chang The Denver Post Related Articles Starbucks union says more US stores are joining week-old strike Starbucks closes at least locations along Colorado s Front Range Starbucks workers in Colorado sue over company s new dress code Kelly Starbucks chief partner officer commented the company already offers the best overall wage and benefits package in retail She touted strong benefits that include fitness care tuition coverage for a four-year college degree and up to weeks of paid family leave The union she wrote is proposing pay increases of right away and over three years along with other proposals that would significantly affect store operations and customer experience These aren t serious evidence-based proposals Kelly wrote The union though says multiple workers don t get enough hours to qualify for benefits Starting wages for baristas they say are an hour in a majority of states though Denver s minimum wage stands at requiring higher rates Barista positions listed on the company s website start at per hour in Colorado while shift supervisor roles begin around per hour Despite the strikes Niccol declared the holiday launch marked the company s biggest sales day ever in North America Baristas in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs last month participated in a national wave of pickets as they demanded a fair contract and prepared to strike No contract no coffee workers and their allies shouted as they rallied outside a Starbucks cafe on South College Avenue in Fort Collins Respect our rights or expect our strikes Drivers honked their horns in encouragement while supporters gave thumbs-down reactions to those frequenting the coffee chain Three days later a dozen people picketed outside a cafe on Carmela Grove in Colorado Springs chanting in call-and-response choruses I m proud so plenty of other stores are willing to step up with us explained Blue Taylor a shift supervisor and strike captain at the store The -year-old watched as the company during the store s unionizing drive spread misinformation about the consequences of organizing and tried to dissuade workers from supporting the cause It didn t work Baristas are fed up he commented Get more business news by signing up for our Economic system Now newsletter