Employees at Starbucks Mockingbird Station and Belt Line Road locations announced their intention to unionize last week.
Starbucks Workers United, a nationwide partnership of Starbucks employees, shared two letters via a Twitter post.
“We feel that at some point, this company has forgotten that it is built for and by people,” employees of the Mockingbird Station tweeted.
Employees contend their physical and emotional health is deteriorating due to a lack of assistance from management.
The letter from the Belt Line Road organizing committee highlighted a lack of openness in Starbucks’ corporate communications and revocation of privileges during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A “lack of management support” was cited in the letters, which also recognize the Starbucks employees’ strong links to their communities.
Belt Line Road’s store manager is routinely tasked with training new employees due to high turnover, according to one of the letters.
Employees claim this is due to “egregious” labor practices.
Both locations teamed up with Starbucks Workers United to assist in their unionization mission.
This announcement comes after employees at a Denton Starbucks declared similar intentions last month.
Starbucks stores in Northern California, New Orleans, Portland, Minnesota, Long Beach, and Augusta, Georgia, have also either organized or indicated their desire to organize in the last month.
The coffee giant created an informational page in response to recent unionization efforts.
“We believe we can build a better experience working side-by-side than by sitting across a negotiating table,” the page states.
“We are listening and learning from the partners in these stores as we always do across the country. From the beginning, we’ve been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us, and that conviction has not changed,” a Starbucks representative said.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz recently sent a letter to partners.
“We will become the best version of Starbucks by co-creating our future directly as partners. And we will strengthen the Starbucks community by upholding each other’s dreams; upholding the standards and rituals of the company; celebrating partner individuality and voice; and upholding behaviors of mutual respect and dignity,” Schultz wrote.
Bring in the Teamsters. They’ll
smack the crap out ofstraighten up Starbucks’ management. 😆