Fundraiser for Hannah, A Fired SBWU Organizer

On April 11th, 2022 I was wrongfully terminated from Starbucks by an old interim store manager. I have now lost all my healthcare benefits, and can no longer attend classes at ASU (a benefit that Starbucks offers to employees). Even before my loss of employment I was already struggling with bills due to my hours being cut and being separated without warning has been devastating.

My Story: At the end of February of this year (2022) there was a confrontation with a fellow shift supervisor (also publicly anti-union), who yelled at me in front of another barista and a full cafe. That same evening I advised that shift supervisor they would need to take their lunch at 6:30pm since I would be off at 7pm. They stated they would not be going at 6:30 and would go later. I said okay but I would need to leave at 7 since I had made plans for the evening, nothing else was said. That supervisor then took their lunch at around 6:50pm, despite the fact I was leaving in 10 minutes, I advised them again I would not be able to stay past 7, they said nothing. They then left the store and according to the barista returned about 10ish minutes after I left. I apologized to the barista before I left, and of course made sure they weren’t overwhelmed with customers and were stocked for the night. There was follow-up later with the old interim store manager about the incident after I reached out to her about the yelling and leaving the store despite me not being able to stay, and I was asked why she wasn’t contacted so there was coverage. For additional context; we are in a downtown area with very limited parking. Even if there would have been someone to cover from another store, it would have taken more time for them to drive through traffic, find a parking spot at a structure, and then walk to our store, then it would have been for that shift’s lunch to be over. I tried to explain this to the store manager and she said she would follow up once they investigated it further. Then fast forward to today, I actually had started work an hour early just as we were out of several products and wanted to make sure the store had what it needed to run smoothly. I even got cookies for our partners since it was a rough weekend. At around 12:30pm I witnessed the old interim store manager come in with our current store manager. About 10 minutes later our current store manager asked me to come in the back with her and told me it was about something serious. The old interim store manager and our current store manager then had me sit down and the old interim store manager had stated that because I left that partner alone in the store I was being separated from the company. When I asked why the other shift supervisor also isn’t in trouble for this I was told that “this is about you, not him”. I was told my only course of action I could take was to contact the Partner Contact Center but there was nothing more they could do because this “was a higher up decision”. I’ve been very vocal in my support for the union, I organized the majority of my store for unionizing, and even outside of that I have given everything for that store. I was there for three years this month, and worked no matter what, I even had a burst appendix one shift and still made sure to close the store. I had no write ups prior, I was late one time and that was only because I got into a serious car accident, but still came in because I knew it was important. I have never been more devastated by a decision like this, I knew something like this might happen when we first filed, but if they think this is going to keep me quiet they are wrong. I know I was wrongfully terminated and I will fight to make sure my partners and all partners have a right to organize.