Starbucks closing first Seattle location, union says
The company told workers that Starbucks is closing its first Seattle location to unionize, prompting backlash from the union representing workers at the coffeehouse chain.
The closure of the store at Broadway East and Denny Way, which is slated to go into effect Dec. 11, is reportedly in response to safety concerns at the location, according to The Seattle Times.
The spokesperson said that the company's goal is to make sure that every partner is supported, and we will bargain with the union in good faith to discuss the impact of this decision on our partners, including opportunities to transfer to other area stores, despite several mitigating efforts. The Seattle-based company remains committed to our hometown, according to a company spokesman. Starbucks Workers United, representing employees of the coffee chain, said the closure was an act of retaliation from the company, and that the last day the store is scheduled to open to the public was December 9, which coincides with the anniversary of the first Starbucks workers voting to unionize last year in Buffalo, New York.
The Broadway and Denny location was one of the first stores to unionize in Seattle, and one of the first places to organize in the country, a union spokeswoman said.
The coffeehouse company has faced growing union efforts, with more than 250 stores voting to unionize in the U.S. Workers at more than 100 locations across the country went on strike last Thursday as the company held its annual Red Cup Day, when customers can buy reusable red cups.
According to a union press release provided to FOX Business, participating stores in multiple states handed out their own red union cups to customers as part of what Starbucks Workers United called the Red Cup Rebellion. Among the workers at the Broadway and Denny store location were among those who participated in the walkout.
100 STORES PICKETING,
In July, Starbucks announced that it would be closing five stores in Seattle and 16 other locations in large cities because of a spike in crime and drug use among customers and nonpaying patrons. The Starbucks Workers Union has maintained that such measures are merely an attempt to throttle unionization efforts.
Starbucks made headlines last week when it was reported by the American Restroom Association ARA, a nonprofit that advocates for accessible, sanitary public restrooms, on World Toilet Day to keep its bathrooms open for everyone, including non-customers.
16 STORES, 6 SAFETY ISSUES ARA, whose website cites its aim as nothing less than a full-scale toilet transformation in this country, urged the coffee chain against recent rhetoric from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who said in June that the company might rethink its open-door bathroom policy, explaining how it is an issue of just safety. Schultz said that we have to harden our stores and provide safety for our people.