After management agreed to their main demand, Boston Starbucks workers ended their two-month-old strike. This marked the end of the longest Starbucks strike in history.
A unionized Starbucks worker nearBoston University workers are on strike since mid-July. They protest an illegal unilateral change in company policy to force part-time workers to be available for full-time work, even if they only work 20 hours a week. Workers said that, if the part-timers didn’t have such availability, they could risk termination.
After a 64-day strike, the union claims that management agreed to end the policy’s enforcement Sunday.
“We are excited that our partners whose availability only permits a part-time schedule will no longer be at risk of losing their jobs because of this arbitrary rule,” the workers wrote in a statement. “We are also proud of our partners in Watertown, MA who joined us in taking action against this rule during their most recent strike action — this victory was won by all of us.”
Workers claim they won other victories, including the elimination of the minimum availability requirement. This was largely due to problems with Tomi Chorlian, their store manager. Chorlian “aggressively” cut employees’ hours, they say, leaving the store “dramatically” understaffed. She had also used “harmful and offensive rhetoric” regarding race, gender and sexual orientation against workers and customers, according to the workers’ statement.
Chorlian is now being replaced by the store’s district manager. The workers will be involved in investigating Chorlian’s behavior.
The staunchly anti unionist company claimsDespite the end of the strike the policy for workers has not changed.
Workers thanked the community. Assist them in maintaining their homesDuring the strike, the picket lines were open 24 hours per day.
“Keeping our picket line alive 24-hours a day for 64 days took a village of community supporters, union siblings, friends, and Starbucks workers,” they wrote. “We are incredibly inspired by this display of solidarity, and we look forward to supporting y’all in the larger fight for worker power.”
The strike had won support fromA wide variety of prominent politicians, including Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, were present. Who visited?Last month, the picket line was set up during a trip to Boston to rally with labor leaders.
On Wednesday, Sanders congratulated workers via Twitter. “Let me congratulate the Starbucks workers in Boston who won their 64-day strike for fair schedules and decent working conditions,” he wrote. “When workers stand together and fight for justice, there is nothing they cannot accomplish. I was proud to have stood on the picket line with them.”
Police officers appeared to have arrived at the picket lines multiple times in an apparent attempt to end the strike. Picketers were threatened with arrest last weekThe police were present once in August remove furniture from the patio that workers were picketing on, watching them to ensure they didn’t return to the area.
“If this isn’t blatant union busting, what is?” the union wrote ofAugust incident
