Starbucks employees in Durham report problems after decision to unionize
Workers at a Starbucks at Southpoint's Renaissance Center in Durham say the company is giving them push back after the store unionized in December.
The location at 6813 Fayetteville Road is the first Starbucks to unionize in the Triangle and the third in North Carolina.
Employees tell WRAL News they are overworked and understaffed.
"It's like more demands, and more demands, and more demands ... but we're not [hiring] more people," said Malinda Love, a barista at the Durham Starbucks.
Love and other employees said they've experienced increasing issues since they became unionized in December.
"Throughout the process of unionizing, it was kind of like bliss," said Russell Calzeretta, a shift supervisor. "Everything was getting fixed in our store."
However, "as soon as we voted, it's like all the support they were starting to bring in disappeared," Love said.
Pay is also a problem. Another barista, Liz Banjo, said Starbucks is cutting her hours.
"When I do get paid, my checks are $300 to $400 short now," Banjo said.
Earlier this month, employees protested over problems at the store, reading a list of grievances to management.
The list included a demand for a 20-hour minimum work week for employees who rely on access to healthcare.
"For individuals who work here who depend on the health benefits, that's a huge deal," Love said. "Treat us like humans ... help us be able to do our job effectively."
In a statement to WRAL News, Starbucks said the union has not identified a bargaining representative for the store.
The National Labor Relations Board claims the corporation discourages unionizing and has issued 128 complaints covering more than 400 unfair labor practice charges against Starbucks and its retail group, Siren Retail Corporation.
Despite the struggles, workers in Durham are calling for more local stores to unionize.
"Hopefully they see that we made it out unscathed and that we're in a better position now collectively, and I hope a lot of other stores start stepping up," Calzeretta said.
Starbucks' full statement is below:
Starbucks has a long-standing practice of adjusting store hours to reflect seasonal changes in customer demand. Partner work schedules are published on a regular, rolling basis three-weeks in advance and are built based on recorded partner availability and the unique operational needs of each store. To ensure partners can get the hours they want, we also provide partners a platform to view and pick-up additional shifts at other area stores.
On allegations of hours cuts:
We know a core piece of a positive partner experience is consistent scheduling and predictable hours, and we’ve continued to work to build weekly schedules that reflect our partners’ preferred hours and support expected customer demand. As such, Starbucks has invested more than 20% of the Company’s 2023 profits back into our partners and stores through wages, training and equipment — improving average hours per U.S. partner by 5% and increasing total hourly compensation for U.S. partners by nearly 50% since fiscal year 2020.
Addressing claims hours differ as a unionized store:
Since partners at our Renaissance Center store announced their intention to pursue union representation, Starbucks has been required to maintain what the NLRB refers to as a “dynamic status quo.”
Local supervisors receive training on these requirements and the complex patchwork of U.S. labor law as well as our respect for our partners’ rights to freely associate, organize and collectively bargain.
Despite being certified as the exclusive bargaining representative for partners at our Renaissance Center store in Dec. 2023, Workers United has not identified a bargaining representative for the store or made an effort to meet Company representatives to begin bargaining a first contract for the store.
We remain committed to our goal of reaching ratified contracts for our represented stores in 2024, and to maintaining the required status quo in represented stores until parties reach agreements.
