Employees at KC Starbucks on the Plaza rally Thursday to support unionization efforts
At 3 p.m. Thursday, Camryn Brigham stood outside the Starbucks on the Country Club Plaza with about 50 others holding a sign that had “Unionize” written in bold.
Employees at the coffee shop had submitted a petition to unionize Monday to the National Labor Relations Board. The locations at the Plaza and another in Overland Park were some of the latest to join a wave of over 100 of the company’s stores organizing across the country.
“When we heard Starbucks workers across the country were starting to unionize, we knew we had to be a part of that fight,” said Terrence Wise, 42, who has been a member of Stand Up KC for 9 years.
Union groups like Stand Up KC and the United Auto Workers attended the rally, as did Missouri state Rep. Patty Lewis, whose district includes the Starbucks on the Plaza.
Starbucks workers say their attempts to unionize have been met with resistance from the Seattle-based company. Representatives from the company’s corporate headquarters scheduled meetings Thursday afternoon with employees at the two Kansas City area locations, seen to workers as an attempt at “union busting.”
Hannah McCown, 28, who has worked at Starbucks shops for three years and the Overland Park location for just over four months, said the meetings were split up by age. By dividing the workforce, she said, the representatives had a better chance at convincing people not to unionize.
“We’ve faced a lot of safety issues over the past few months,” McCown said. “No matter what we did our voices weren’t being heard.”
“We’re doing this to get the morale we need to make it through this process and show our customers supporting us what’s going on.”
At about 3:23 p.m, Brigham, 20, who had been anxiously waiting to hear from fellow employees tasked with closing the store early for the meetings with corporate representatives, got a text.
“Due to unforeseen media coverage, the store meetings will be canceled today. Partners will be paid for the hour that they were scheduled,” it read.
“That’s inspiring,” Brigham said.
“If in just a little under 30 minutes protesting scares them a little bit imagine what else we can do.”
Safety concerns
Employees who gathered for the rally said one of the reasons they were unionizing was because they at times felt unsafe on the job.
Because of limited parking spaces near the Overland Park location, workers said they were told to park on 75th Street, a busy road which intersects with Interstate 35.
One employee said she feels unsafe walking back to her car, especially as a transgender woman.
Another worker, Calvin Culey, said they came to question their safety after an armed robbery in the adjoining Taco Bell on Christmas Eve. The victim came to them for help and they called the police. According to Culey, the manager’s response was to check if the store was ready for the Christmas Day holiday.
“If I feel safe there, it’s because of my coworkers, not because of Starbucks,” Culey said.
Mental health support, Culey said, was not offered following the incident.
Starbucks did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the rally.
The National Labor Relations Board will release a ruling on the petitions filed by the Kansas City area shops, which can be appealed.
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 8:56 PM with the headline "Employees at KC Starbucks on the Plaza rally Thursday to support unionization efforts."
