Starbucks marketing presents them as a trendy, ethical corporation. However, when it comes to their own workers they are ruthless union-busters determined to stop their employees from organising.

On Thursday 24th April, Mónica, a barista in the central Seville branch of Starbucks, was fired without notice. She had worked there for a year and a half, when district manager, Tomas Pinto, suddenly claimed that she “created problems with her workmates”. She had resisted management when they made people work public holidays without extra pay and had refused to attend work meetings outside work time where no pay or time off in lieu was offered. The end came after she asked about another worker who had been fired. The store manager told her on several occasions that she must have nothing to do with unions. A few days later she was fired. She is a member of the Commerce Union of the CNT,
a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist union (i.e. a union controlled by
rank-and-file members). The CNT is demanding her reinstatement.

Barely a month later, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, Starbucks
fired barista Cole Dorsey on June 6th. Cole had over 2 years
of service and was active in the IWW Starbucks Workers Union.
The National Labour Relations Board in the US has already made the firm rehire two sacked workers in 2006, and are looking at Starbucks latest violation. This is just the latest part of Starbucks ongoing campaign of victimisation against workers who
dared to stand up and try and improve their working conditions.

Service industry jobs like Starbucks have traditionally been poorly paid, un-unionised and had a poor observance of workers rights. Starbucks is determined to try and keep things this way, and is stamping down hard on anyone who tries to change this. As more and more jobs move away from traditional industry and
into new service sectors, workers such as these are taking an important and difficult first step in defending workers rights in modern workplaces.

Both unions have called for a day of action to highlight these cases on July 5th. Please let Starbucks know you disapprove of their union-busting by joining us in asking people to buy
their coffee elsewhere.