Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz testifies concerning the firm’s labor and union practices throughout a Senate Committee on Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions listening to on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 29, 2023.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Pictures
Starbucks fired Alexis Rizzo, the worker accountable for igniting the Starbucks Staff United union marketing campaign, simply days after the corporate’s former CEO Howard Schultz testified on Capitol Hill concerning the espresso chain’s alleged union-busting, CNBC confirmed.
Rizzo labored as a shift supervisor at Starbucks for 7 years and served as a union chief on the Genesee St. retailer in Buffalo, New York, which was one of many first two shops within the nation to win its union marketing campaign.
Starbucks Staff United introduced Rizzo’s termination in a tweet Saturday and stated in a corresponding GoFundMe web page that “that is retaliation at its worst.”
“I am completely heartbroken. It wasn’t only a job for me. It was like my household,” Rizzo instructed CNBC in an interview. “It was like shedding the whole lot. I have been there since I used to be 17 years outdated. It is like my complete assist system, and I feel that they knew that.”
Rizzo stated her retailer managers fired her after she completed working her shift Friday. She stated they instructed her it was as a result of she had been late on 4 events — two of which had been cases the place she had been one minute late. Rizzo suspects she was let go because of Wednesday’s Senate listening to, she stated.
Schultz confronted a volley of powerful questions from Sen. Bernie Sanders Wednesday about Starbucks’ labor and union practices. Sanders, a pro-union impartial representing Vermont, has been placing strain on Starbucks for greater than a 12 months to acknowledge the union and negotiate contracts with unionized cafes.
Sanders chairs the Senate’s Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions Committee, which performed the panel.
In the course of the listening to, Sanders stated that Starbucks has engaged within the “most aggressive and unlawful union-busting marketing campaign within the trendy historical past of our nation.” He additionally accused the corporate of stalling on collective bargaining agreements, betting that staff will surrender and go away the espresso chain.
Schultz defended Starbucks’ strategy to its negotiations, sustaining {that a} direct relationship with staff is what’s greatest for the corporate. He additionally denied a number of instances that the corporate ever broke federal labor legislation and stated his focus throughout his time as interim CEO was 99% on operations, not battling the union.
“I do not assume it is a coincidence that two days after Howard Schultz had his ego bruised the way in which that he did that he began lashing out at Buffalo,” Rizzo stated. She added that two different workers had been additionally fired Friday.
Starbucks spokesperson Rachel Wall stated separations on the firm solely comply with clear violations of insurance policies. On this case, she stated there have been quite a few attendance violations that had been impacting different baristas at this retailer location.
“We recognize that our Genesee St. companions offered the Starbucks Expertise to one another and our clients this morning, and that space shops proceed to serve clients with out interruption this weekend,” she instructed CNBC in a press release.
Almost 300 Starbucks cafes have voted to unionize beneath Starbucks Staff United, in response to information from the Nationwide Labor Relations Board. In whole, the union has made greater than 500 complaints of unfair labor practices associated to Starbucks with the federal labor board. Starbucks has filed roughly 100 of its personal complaints in opposition to the union. Judges have discovered that the corporate has damaged federal labor legislation 130 instances.
Not one of the unionized shops have agreed on a contract but with Starbucks.
Rizzo stated she continues to be “in shock” about being fired, however that she plans to struggle for her place.
“We’ll preserve combating to make issues proper,” she stated. “I will struggle for my job again and to get reinstated.”
— CNBC’s Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.