Mayor Wu tells striking Starbucks workers 'Boston stands with you'
BOSTON - Mayor Michelle Wu joined the picket line Monday morning outside the Starbucks at 874 Commonwealth Ave, where workers have been on strike for a week.
"I am here because I want you to know very clearly that the city of Boston stands with you," Wu said. "We are going to make sure that Boston continues to lead the way in fighting for safe working conditions and the benefits and wages and respect that you all deserve."
Wu called alleged union-busting by Starbucks "disgraceful."
"We're going to stand up again here to make sure at this Starbucks and all across the country that we support your organizing efforts," the mayor said.
Workers at the Comm. Ave Starbucks went on strike last week. They said they decided to strike due to a lack of staff and inconsistent scheduling.
"As soon as we voted to unionize in early June, the company brought in a union-busting manager," shift manager and organizer Spencer Costigan said Monday.
About 200 Starbucks locations across the country have voted to unionize in recent months.
"We are aware of a strike at the 874 Commonwealth Ave store location," a Starbucks spokesperson told WBZ-TV. "Starbucks values each of our partners and we are doing our best to listen to the concerns of all our partners. We respect their legal rights to engage in organizing activity or protest."
Interim CEO Howard Schultz said recently that "we are beginning to close stores" over safety concerns and "This is just the beginning. There are going to be many more."
Schultz, who stepped into the CEO role for the third time in April, has been trying to stave off growing unionization efforts. The company said in July it would be closing 16 stores over safety concerns. Union organizers have in the past pointed to store closures as a way to intimidate workers.
In June, Starbucks workers at an Ithaca, New York, store claimed their location was being shut down in retaliation for their union activism. The worker committee said at the time that it was filing an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the NLRB, alleging that Starbucks was making a "clear attempt to scare workers across the country."
Regarding that store closure, a company spokesperson said at the time that Starbucks opens and closes stores as part of its regular operations, without offering specific reasons.
"Our local, regional and national leaders have been working with humility, deep care and urgency to create the kind of store environment that partners and customers expect of Starbucks," the Starbucks spokesperson said in June. "Our goal is to ensure that every partner is supported in their individual situation and we have immediate opportunities available in the market."
