%20(3).png){kind=small}
![TFD [LOGO] (10).png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/bea252_c1775b2fb69c4411abe5f0d27e15b130~mv2.png/v1/crop/x_150,y_143,w_1221,h_1193/fill/w_179,h_176,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/TFD%20%5BLOGO%5D%20(10).png)
Workers At First Unionized Starbucks Protest Working Conditions
- By The Financial District
- Jan 10, 2022
- 2 min read
On Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, workers at the Elmwood Starbucks location in Buffalo, New York, walked off the job to protest working conditions, citing the company’s failure to address COVID-related safety issues, Sharon Zhang reported for Truthout.
Photo Insert: Starbucks workers during a protest
According to the union, workers are protesting because they have been forced to work through “unsafe working conditions,” facing health concerns and understaffing. Elmwood organizer Michelle Eisen called the walkout a “necessary stand.”
“Starbucks would rather let loyal employees walk than address critical issues regarding COVID,” Eisen wrote. “Corporate continues to put profits over partners. We’ve had enough.”
Eisen said in an interview with More Perfect Union that employees were stonewalled after sharing their concerns about COVID with the company over the past week.
“They said under no uncertain terms that as long as there are enough employees to meet the needs of the business then everything was being taken care of,” she said. “We’re not going to go back into the store until we feel that we’re safe.”
Starbucks workers have highlighted COVID-related concerns in the past. Workers say that they have been forced to come in while sick – a problem exacerbated by understaffing issues that have resulted in the company pressuring employees to come to work.
The protest comes weeks after the workers voted to form the first-ever union at a corporate-owned Starbucks location. Elmwood workers have reported receiving gifts from all over the country expressing solidarity with their union, including handwritten letters, tips, and even an engraved plaque from the New York State Public Employees Federation.
Their win has inspired other Starbucks locations across the country to organize and even file petitions to unionize, sparking what could potentially become a wave of unionizations across some of the company’s 9,000 corporate-owned locations.
