Nearly a dozen additional Starbucks workers in the city have filed labor law complaints against the national coffee chain, according to a letter obtained exclusively by the Daily News.
Baristas from 30 of the Seattle-based cafe chain’s outlets across the five boroughs filed letters to the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection charging Fair Workweek and Just Cause violations, bringing the total number of complaints filed this year to 38.
News of the complaints comes after former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was grilled last month before the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in a session called “No Company Is Above the Law: The Need to End Illegal Union Busting at Starbucks.”
Schultz recently stepped down from his role as the company’s CEO, his third time in the position, amid accusations that he has launched a union-busting campaign.
Starbucks workers nationwide have sought to unionize, beginning in Buffalo, and New York City cafes have followed suit. About 300 of the 9,300 java shops across the country have voted to unionize.
Most of the complaints in the city were filed against the Astoria, Queens, branch, which underwent a contentious unionization process last year.
Union leader Austin Locke was fired from his job in 2022 after the company claimed he falsified a workplace violence complaint and flouted COVID-19 protocols.
In February, the company hired him back, paying him $21,000 in lost wages and benefits.
On March 29, 52% of Starbucks shareholders voted in favor of a commission to look into the company’s labor practices, including how it handles unionization and collective bargaining.
The National Labor Relations Board chided the company for not extending electronic tipping options to unionized stores. Starbucks maintains that it is a benefit that would have to be negotiated through collective bargaining.
The city has stepped in to bring legal action against other companies that it has found in violation of Fair…
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