{"id":26704,"date":"2023-04-29T15:51:40","date_gmt":"2023-04-29T19:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redphoenixnews.com\/?p=26704"},"modified":"2026-04-23T23:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T04:51:07","slug":"unionized-starbucks-workers-strike-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/2023\/04\/unionized-starbucks-workers-strike-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Unionized Starbucks workers strike again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenixnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-29-23_starbucks-1.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenixnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-29-23_starbucks-1.png?ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26710\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em><sup>The Starbucks workers displayed their union bulletin board, which was removed from their workspace by management.<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>By Sofia D., Red Phoenix correspondent, Minnesota.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On April 27, Starbucks workers at 300 Snelling Ave S. in St. Paul, Minnesota, returned to the picket line after the nationwide strike on March 2022, demanding a return to the regular 20-person staff, their right to display openly their union bulletin board, coverage for transgender healthcare, and more. The walk-out was performed on the first anniversary of this location\u2019s unionization, and was attended by members of the Minnesota Nurses Association, MN DSA, Macalester YDSA, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanpartyoflabor.com\/\">American Party of Labor<\/a>. I interviewed Marshall Steele, they\/them, a shift supervisor at the store, who has worked there since July 2021 when the store opened. The interview is transcribed below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-videopress\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"VideoPress Video Player\" aria-label='VideoPress Video Player' width='500' height='281' src='https:\/\/videopress.com\/embed\/faJKPH02?cover=1&amp;preloadContent=metadata&amp;useAverageColor=1&amp;hd=0' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen data-resize-to-parent=\"true\" allow='clipboard-write'><\/iframe><script src='https:\/\/v0.wordpress.com\/js\/next\/videopress-iframe.js?m=1770107250'><\/script>\n<\/div><figcaption><em><sup>A striking Starbucks worker leads the chant, &#8220;Workers united will never be defeated.&#8221;<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Red Phoenix<\/strong>: What prompted this particular strike?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Marshall<\/strong>:<strong> <\/strong>This particular strike was prompted by Starbucks\u2019 removal of a bulletin board in the back which is <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nlrb.gov\/guidance\/key-reference-materials\/national-labor-relations-act#:~:text=In%201935%2C%20Congress%20passed%20the,workers'%20full%20freedom%20of%20association\" target=\"_blank\">protected by the NLRA<\/a>. They removed it even after several notices that what they were doing was illegal, and an unfair labor practice. So we put up the strike notice for today, that we were going on strike over unfair labor practices, over the bulletin board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it\u2019s also been for us, a lot of channeling frustrations that go probably beyond just a single bulletin board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RP<\/strong>: Right, I heard that you guys were operating at twelve people when normally you have twenty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>M<\/strong>: Yes. In the last five or six months, we\u2019ve lost five people and hired in one, and our business has gone up around 100 to 150%. We\u2019re operating with at most five or six people total in the store today, and so I think a lot of this is frustration channeled around staffing, and management not being attentive to the people they employ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RP<\/strong>: Could you tell me more about that lack of attentiveness?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>M<\/strong>: Even if they could believably not see that the store was understaffed, people have been talking to management and asking them, \u201cCan we please hire more people? Everyone is burnt out, overworked, and working on the bare minimum needed to keep the store open.\u201d But they have just delayed and delayed. It seems pretty clear at this point that they\u2019re pretty much just trying to cut costs as much as possible with no regard for those of us working in the store. I think that frustration is boiling over here, along with the bulletin board stuff, and obviously the fact that they still haven\u2019t come to the table for any sort of contract bargaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RP<\/strong>: And the bulletin board, what was on that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>M<\/strong>: It was a set of contact information for shop steward \u2013 which is myself, our committee reps, and our union rep as well. It also had a few legal notices, which are <em>required<\/em> to be up in any unionized shop, and space for us to put out news of strike votes. They [Starbucks] took that down two days after it went up, and they actually said that \u201cwe could have a little folder in the back,\u201d hidden away in the corner. We asked them, \u201cWhat is the difference, in policy, between a folder and a board?\u201d And they told us to our face that they didn\u2019t know why their policy excludes our board, and then took it down anyways. They are aware, it seems everyone in their management is aware that what they\u2019re doing is union busting. That has boiled out here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RP<\/strong>: It seems like you guys have a lot of support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>M<\/strong>: Yeah! We\u2019re super grateful for that. Like I said, we\u2019re a store of twelve at this point, so we don\u2019t exactly have the most bodies we can put out on the picket at one time just from our store. But we are so grateful for all the support we get from just community members, people who show up and see that we\u2019re unionized and want to help out. The support from other unions around here is great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RP<\/strong>: How long have you been working at this store, how long has it been unionized?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>M<\/strong>: I\u2019m a shift supervisor at this store, and I have worked here since it opened. We opened in July of 2021, and we won our union election a year ago today, which is also another reason we\u2019re holding the strike today; this is like our birthday gift to ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenixnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-29-23_starbucks-2.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" data-id=\"26712\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenixnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-29-23_starbucks-2.png?ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26712\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenixnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-29-23_starbucks-3.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" data-id=\"26715\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenixnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-29-23_starbucks-3.png?ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26715\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenixnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-29-23_starbucks-4.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" data-id=\"26714\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenixnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/4-29-23_starbucks-4.png?ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26714\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sofia D., Red Phoenix correspondent, Minnesota. On April 27, Starbucks workers at 300 Snelling Ave S. in St. Paul, Minnesota, returned to the picket..<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":40695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[181,97],"tags":[198],"class_list":["post-26704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-labor","category-us-news","tag-interview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenix.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-29-23_starbucks-1.png?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40696,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26704\/revisions\/40696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}