Starbucks indicated last week that the coffee chain will reinstate 7 employees who were fired back in February after attempting to unionize their Memphis location. These workers will be hired again after the Seattle-based corporation lost an appeal of a lower court’s order to reinstate them, Fox News reports.
The coffee giant said that these 7 people violated their company policy after they reopened the store after closing time and invited non-employees (including a television crew) to enter. However, the National Labor Relations Board adamantly disagreed with the Starbucks action, explaining that it interfered with the workers’ right to organize. The board then asked a Memphis federal court to intervene. In August, a federal judge ordered the company to reinstate the workers within 5 days while the court considered the labor board’s lawsuit.
Starbucks must rehire 7 Memphis employees that backed a union, a judge says : NPR https://t.co/S7Q8hqprL6
— Attorney Ryan (@The_LaborLawyer) September 13, 2022
Starbucks forced to rehire 7 workers they fired in Memphis earlier this year with backpay.
The company has fired over 100 union organizers around the US as over 225 stores have unionized so far https://t.co/izxVC1Xouv
— Michael Sainato (@msainat1) September 12, 2022
While Starbucks appealed, last week, a three-judge panel for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the lower court. This ruled that Starbucks “did not show a likelihood of success” in challenging the lower court’s ruling. This case is notable on social media in that it is one of the most closely watched and analyzed as nationwide employees continue to advocate for unionization at Starbucks.
Since late 2021, more than 230 U.S. Starbucks stores (including this Memphis location) voted to unionize, although Starbucks opposes unionization. The union organizing Starbucks stores— Workers United— celebrated the appeals court decision last week. The group claimed that Starbucks fired more than 100 union leaders from its stores this year.
Starbucks announced new benefits including loan management tools — but is excluding U.S. workers who are union members.
230+ stores have voted to unionize. Regulators say denying benefits to union workers is illegal.
The CEO made $20.4 million in 2021, 340x the average barista. pic.twitter.com/XPDvhJMtMr
— AJ+ (@ajplus) September 13, 2022
“We hope the win helps provide the precedent for other cases like ours and helps show workers that we have the power to stand up for a better work life for ourselves and every other worker out there,” said Kylie Throckmorton, one of the 7 fired workers, in a statement distributed by the union. Starbucks then said that white it respects workers’ right to organize, it strongly disagrees with the court decision.
“We are concerned that this ruling sends mixed messages to our partners about appropriate behavior in the workplace and sets a worrisome precedent for employers everywhere who need to be able to make personnel decisions based on their established policies and protocols,” the chain said. Starbucks also said that this decision will penalize current workers, who will probably find their hours reduced to make way for the returning staff.
