On Aug. 18, a federal district judge ordered Starbucks to reinstate seven workers who were fired for organizing a union drive at a store in Memphis, Tennessee.
U.S. District Court Judge Sheryl H. Lipman ruled that the coffee company failed to prove that it consistently enforced similar company policies at other locations under similar circumstances.
The media and labor activists have called the local baristas the “Memphis Seven,” after they were fired following an interview with the press about their efforts to unionize their store this year, in violation of what Starbucks calls its official policy regarding employee/media relations.
The workers’ union, Starbucks Workers United, dismissed it as retaliation for attempting to organize.
“I’m so happy with this outcome,” said Florentino Escobar, one of the “Memphis Seven” baristas.
“This is one more step to make Starbucks a better place.”
The Memphis-based workers won the vote for union representation by Workers United earlier this summer, on June 7, which the NLRB certified on June 15.
The NLRB announced in June that the vote to unionize the store in Memphis won 11–3.
The judge said in her order that the labor board provided “evidence consistent with the theory that Starbucks discriminatorily applied its policies to the Memphis Seven when terminating them.”
The company has been ordered to reinstate the workers within five days and also must expunge the disciplinary actions in their files, as well as cease and desist from any other alleged anti-union practices.
Starbucks immediately responded in a statement that it plans to appeal the decision and has requested a stay on the order pending an appeal.
Some Workers Say Yea, Some Say Nay
Starbucks has spent the past year battling efforts to unionize its stores, even bringing back its founder and former CEO, Howard Schultz, in March, as its interim chief executive.The first successful attempt at unionization was a Starbucks union in Buffalo, New York, last year, which led to a nationwide effort to organize one of world’s largest coffee chains.
The NLRB accused the company, since December, of firing at least 75 employees at other locations, similar to what happened in Buffalo, and of engaging in illegal attempts at intimidation to deter workers from organizing.
The labor agency has investigated more than 286 unfair labor practice charges over the past several months, mostly filed against Starbucks.
Earlier this month, the coffee chain accused NLRB officials of illegally coordinating with Workers United during an election in Overland Park, Kansas, in April 2022.
Starbucks has also claimed government bias, after the Biden administration excluded the company from a meeting at the White House in May, which included union representatives.
More than 220 Starbucks locations have voted to unionize since last year, while 47 stores have voted against unionization, according to the NLRB.
“Howard Schultz thought he could terrify an entire nation of baristas by firing the Memphis organizing committee,” said Richard Bensinger, a lead organizer for Starbucks Workers United.
“Thankfully, a federal judge has found that Schultz is not above the law.”
The number of unionized Starbucks stores is still only a small portion of its nearly 9,000 locations, but the coffee chain has been trying hard to curb any further unionization.
