Starbucks workers on Long Island join national one-day strike

Workers at a Starbucks in Farmingville joined employees of more than 100 other unionized stores nationwide in a daylong strike Thursday to protest the company’s failure to negotiate contracts.

Standing in the cold along North Ocean Avenue, more than a dozen workers and supporters chanted “No contract, no coffee!”

“First and foremost, we are demanding negotiations and a contract,” said Sam Cornetta, 22, a store employee and lead union organizer. “We’re demanding that they respect their legal obligation to recognize us and negotiate.”

Employees at the Farmingville store voted 13-1 in July to join the Workers United New York New Jersey Regional Board, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. Workers at Massapequa and Westbury locations joined the union earlier this year, while workers at a Great Neck store narrowly voted against unionizing.

 At least 257 of the Seattle-based coffee giant's 9,000 stores have voted to unionize since late last year, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Fifty-seven stores have voted down the union.

The nationwide walkouts — the union’s largest labor action since a campaign to unionize the stores began late last year — coincided with Starbucks’ annual Red Cup Day, when the company gives free reusable cups to customers who order a holiday drink. Workers say it’s often one of the busiest days of the year.

Workers say they're seeking better pay, more consistent schedules and higher staffing levels in busy stores. Stores in 25 states planned to take part in the labor action, according to Starbucks Workers United, the group organizing the effort. Strikers handed out their own reusable red cups with the union logo.

Starbucks said it was aware of the walkouts and respects its employees' right to lawfully protest. “We remain committed to all partners and will continue to work together, side-by-side, to make Starbucks a company that works for everyone," the company said Thursday in a statement.

The strikers at the Farmingville store, many of them in their 20s, said the company had been failing to keep their store adequately staffed.

Brendan Lopez, 22, who has worked at the store over a year, said “We’ve definitely been seeing the short end of the stick when it comes to staffing,” leading to last-minute confusion and stress.  

Cornetta, a full-time Stony Brook University senior, said Farmingville workers were also angered when the company gave them a $1.50 per hour raise in August as part of a regionwide increase, only to rescind it for their store a week later, citing the lack of a union contract.

The store remained open Thursday, with striking workers saying it was  staffed by managers from other store locations and a district manager. People working inside the store deferred questions to Starbucks’ corporate communications team.

Customer reactions to the strike were mixed, with some customers choosing to abandon their plans to make purchases in support of the workers.

One customer, who asked not to be named, chose not to buy from the shop after protesters asked her not to cross the picket line. "It felt right not to go in there,” she said.

 “Long Island is so expensive that if you don’t get the right pay, most of these kids won’t be able to afford Long Island,” she said. “They deserve a chance too, no?”

Starbucks and the union have begun contract talks at 53 stores, with 13 additional sessions scheduled, Starbucks Workers United said. No agreements have been reached so far.

The process has been contentious. Earlier this week, a regional director with the NLRB filed a request for an injunction against Starbucks in federal court, saying the company violated labor law when it fired a union organizer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The regional director asked the court to direct Starbucks to reinstate the employee and stop interfering in the unionization campaign nationwide.

It was the fourth time the NLRB has asked a federal court to intervene. In August, a federal judge ruled that Starbucks had to reinstate seven union organizers who were fired in Memphis, Tennessee. A similar case in Buffalo has yet to be decided, while a federal judge ruled against the NLRB in a case in Phoenix.

Meanwhile, Starbucks has asked the NLRB to temporarily suspend all union elections at its U.S. stores, citing allegations from a board employee that regional officials improperly coordinated with union organizers. A decision in that case is pending.

— With AP