Starbucks fires Buffalo employee lively in unionization effort

Starbucks has fired one of many employees who helped kick off a unionization effort on the firm.

Lexi Rizzo, an eight-year Starbucks worker and shift supervisor, was fired from her retailer in Buffalo, New York, on Friday. Starbucks Staff United, the union organizing Starbucks’ employees, mentioned Rizzo was fired after arriving a couple of minutes late for work. It claims the firing was retaliation for Rizzo’s vocal assist of the union.

Rizzo was one of many employees who first reached out to labor organizers in 2021 to unionize Starbucks shops. Since then, no less than 294 of Starbucks’ 9,000 company-owned U.S. shops have voted to unionize, based on the Nationwide Labor Relations Board. Seattle-based Starbucks opposes the unionization effort.

Starbucks mentioned Monday that Rizzo was fired for “repeated and substantial violations” of its attendance coverage, together with one occasion the place she arrived greater than three hours late for a shift. Starbucks mentioned it had documented six cases through which Rizzo missed greater than 4 hours of labor.

“Our insurance policies exist to take care of a welcoming environment for all companions and clients, and curiosity in a union doesn’t exempt companions from following insurance policies and procedures that apply to all,” the corporate mentioned in a press release.

Rizzo mentioned in a press release that she is going to battle to be reinstated.

Rizzo’s identify seems repeatedly in a call issued final month by a federal labor decide on the NLRB, who ordered Starbucks to reinstate seven fired employees in Buffalo after discovering “egregious and widespread misconduct” by the corporate.

Amongst different issues, the decide discovered that Starbucks was inconsistent in warning Rizzo about tardiness and illegally withheld pay raises for her and different supervisors. Starbucks is interesting that ruling.

Starbucks Staff United mentioned two different union supporters in Buffalo and one in Eugene, Oregon, had been additionally fired final week.

“Starbucks can hearth our leaders, however they can not cease our motion or cease the general public from seeing the reality,” the union mentioned.