ONTARIO — The lights were dark at 2172 Walker Lake Road on Wednesday as Ontario Starbucks workers went on strike for better staffing.
About a dozen employees picketed outside the store in Ontario from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. A sign on Starbucks’ window said the location was temporarily closed.
Of the store’s 36 part-time workers, shift supervisor Lizzy Prichard said 26 signed union authorization cards.
“All our partners currently work part-time, but not by choice,” Prichard said.
Ontario employees filed a petition to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Wednesday morning and went on strike with Starbucks employees from more than 100 stores across the U.S. on Wednesday.
The NLRB recently ruled Starbucks violated the National Labor Relations Act in Buffalo, New York by firing seven workers and temporarily closing a facility amid union negotiations.
About two weeks after the NLRB decision, Starbucks’ new CEO Laxman Narasimhan took over operations of the company from previous CEO Howard Schultz.
“If Howard Schultz or Laxman Narasimhan think this movement is limited to college towns and coastal cities, they’ve got another thing coming,” Prichard said. “Union Starbucks partners are here to stay.
“Starbucks workers are not a bunch of blue-haired liberals, there’s a lot of us who have families and we just want to provide for our families and serve our community.”
M.C. Floreani, Chicago-based representative for Starbucks Workers United, said she has been talking with Ontario employees about organizing since January.
Floreani said these strikes were purposely scheduled a day before the Starbucks annual shareholders meeting. Ontario store manager Michelle Baker and Starbucks’ corporate media liaison did not respond to email requests for comment.
After a union election vote, the Walker Lake Road Starbucks is set to become the 12th unionized Starbucks location in Ohio. Employees joined the national strike Wednesday to show solidarity with unionized Starbucks workers.
Starting Thursday and continuing over the next few weeks, Prichard said local workers will be focusing their efforts toward winning a union election. If any customer wants to donate to the strike fund, Prichard said they can ask store workers how to help.
“We want full staffing first and foremost,” she said. “All we want is to be able to serve our customers in the fastest and best way for them. To do that, we need about eight or nine people at a time.
“We have the grab-and-go model, and we can’t keep up with that with four or five people on the floor.”
Rose Ames, who has worked at Starbucks since 2006, said employees want more accountability for store management.
“We need a better safety net,” she said. “Our inconstant and capricious management shouldn’t be allowed to call all the shots when they have less tenure in the company.”
A letter sent to Starbucks executives and local management echoed Ames’ concerns.
“We feel that unionizing is a way to bring our particular store in line with the Starbucks values of respect and dignity, and serving the customers in the way they want to be served,” the letter said.
