The union representing Starbucks workers across the nation has filed a complaint to the federal labor board alleging that the company has been Reduced hours for employees in order to interfere with workers’ union campaigns.
Starbucks Workers United claims that by cutting hours, the company is financially punishing union workers and organizers. The union also claims that the cuts “seek to coerce employees into not starting or supporting workplace organizing campaigns,” according to a press release.
Retaliation against workers who organize unions is illegal under federal labor laws. However, the penalties for doing so are severe. Extremely weak. The union is asking for an immediate nationwide injunction that will force the company’s employees to stop cutting their hours.
According to a survey of the union’s members, workers have had between two and 15 hours cut from their weekly schedules, which impacts workers’ finances and can render them ineligible for benefits like health care and tuition coverage. According to the complaint, reductions have been occurring in at least 20 states.
In order for workers to be eligible for the company’s health insurance program, they have to work 20 hoursA week is an average. The company has Its health insurance benefits were praisedin anti-union efforts but could be making employees ineligible for them.
“Partners pretty much across the board have experienced a cut in their hours. Full-time partners have watched their schedules drop from 30 to 35 hours to 22 to 25, and some part-time partners are only seeing one shift a week compared to their usual three or four,” Maddie VanHook, a barista at a store in Cleveland, Ohio, said in a statement. “Despite the claims that the company is ‘overspending’ on labor, we’re still seeing managers hiring people in and we’re seeing increases in business.”
The company does indeed appear to have enough cash to spend what it wants. It is possible that this amount will reach into the millions.Top union-busting lawyers The company continues to operate in the interim. is making record profitsIn the fiscal year 2021 they made $29.1 trillion in consolidated net revenues. This represents a 24 percent increase over the previous year —According to a financial report, the increase was largely due to in-store sales.
Workers who have filed to unionize at over 130 stores so far, have said that current hour cuts are unlike any they’ve ever seen in their years working at Starbucks. Sofia Delgado from Phoenix, one of the workers. told More Perfect UnionEven though she was available nearly every week, her hours were cut from 21 to 5.5 hours a week to just 5.5 hours. Delgado was forced to quit her job to find work that offered more hours.
“In the eight years I’ve worked for Starbucks I’ve never seen the company slash hours this severely or this widely,” said Seattle shift supervisor Sarah Pappin.
“My husband and I have been saving up to start our family. I have no idea how that’s going to happen now when my hours have been reduced by 32 percent,” Pappin continued. “Many of us are scrambling to find second jobs to make ends meet, but we’re scared that reducing our availability will cause them to cut our hours even more, or even fire us like they have done in Buffalo.”
The union was established earlier in the month. 20 charges filedFederal labor officials have alleged that Starbucks violated labor laws many times, including when it fired Cassie Fleischer (a former Starbucks worker and union organizer from Buffalo, New York). Starbucks Workers United also claimed that the company has barred union-supporting employees from mandatory anti-union meetings, where it coerces workers into voting against laborization.
Starbucks has lost every legal battle it has waged against the union despite its army of anti-union attorneys. Starbucks has repeatedly attempted to undermine elections. Attempted to argueUnion elections should be held regionally, and not in individual stores. However, the National Labor Relations Board rejected this argument, stating that store-bystore votes are appropriate for the organization.
