Starbucks union whips up protest over fired barista

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.chelseanow.com/cn_122/starbucksunion.html



Chelsea Now photo by J.B. Nicholas

Starbucks Workers Union members at a Feb. 16 protest demanded that baristas illegally fired for union organizing be rehired.

Starbucks union whips up protest over fired barista

By Julie Shapiro and J.B. Nicholas

A dozen members of the Starbucks Workers Union rallied in Union Square on Feb. 16 to protest the recent firing of one of their members.

“Shame, shame, shame on you,” they chanted, marching in front of the Starbucks at Union Square West and 17th St.

Henry Marin, a Starbucks worker and union member, said Starbucks plays favorites when scheduling workers for shifts and is denying severance pay to laid-off workers. The protestors described a rocky relationship between the union and the corporate giant.

“They’ve tried to deny our existence,” Marin said. “They’ve tried to squash our rights.”

Mark Ormsbee, a Starbucks district manager who was hunkered down inside the store during the protest, declined to comment. Starbucks released a statement saying the protesters, a subset of the International Workers of the World, are not representative of most Starbucks employees.

FULL story at link.