Workers say sudden closing of Plaza Starbucks was about union-busting, not safety
About five minutes. That’s how much notice workers at the Starbucks on the Country Club Plaza had before the company permanently closed the store.
“Starbucks sat the workers that were in this location down and said effective at 3:30 p.m. today (Monday) this store is no longer operating because of safety and security reasons,” said Josh Crowell, a barista at the store at 302 Nichols Road.
“That was basically all they all they gave us. Starbucks Corporation believes that we as workers are safer not working here is what they essentially told us.”
Crowell was among about 10 workers who gathered Tuesday morning outside the store to protest the closing, saying they believe the true reason the store was closing was that workers were trying to unionize.
“I think a fair amount of it (the reason for the closing) is union busting,” said Crowell, who was part of the organizing committee for the Starbucks union. “With our tight election, I think Starbucks decided to shut down the store because they thought it was easier just to shut down the store than to have to deal with that.”
In an emailed statement Tuesday, a Starbucks company spokesperson said the chain regularly opens and closes stores as a standard part of their business operations.
“We apply the same focus on safety at unionized and non-union stores and are closing non-union stores where we are similarly challenged in providing a safe environment for our customer and partner experience,” the spokesperson said.
A company spokesperson who declined to be named added:
“The store has experienced some safety issues due to crime in the area. I don’t have the particulars at this moment, But clearly there are issues that have been brought to the attention of our leadership.”
Crowell, the picketing worker, said sending workers to other stores isn’t going to make them safer. He said he has worked for Starbucks for four years, including about a year at the Plaza store.
“I think they’re just using it as cover,” he said, adding that the company is trying to have good public relations by saying they’re keeping workers safe. “But at the end of the day, us workers now we’re, you know, out here protesting because we lost our jobs.”
For now they are limbo. Workers have been told they will be paid through Thursday and managers will be reaching out to them by then to provide answers as to where they could be reassigned and what their options are.
The coworkers who joined Crowell picketing outside the store carried handmade cardboard signs that read “Starbucks doesn’t care about its workers” and “Not having a say in my job is wrong!” One sign accused Starbucks corporate of being is cowardly for suppressing workers voice, withholding promised raises and then taking their jobs.
“What’s next Starbucks”? the sign asked.
Crowell said he was rallying his coworkers to put pressure on the company. He said customers he has seen on a regular basis are upset.
Starbucks workers organize
The Plaza Starbucks was one of the first stores in the Kansas City area where staff announced plans to unionize, joining a nationwide trend in the company.
The vote in June, however, was a tight election. The outcome is pending because the vote is tied at nine each with three challenged ballots.
“We were just in a holding pattern here,” Crowell said.
Workers at a store in Overland Park that filed for unionization at the same time as the Plaza location said on Twitter they were devastated by the news “but this is not the end.”
The Plaza location was one of two stores that Starbucks closed that were organizing, according to a news release from the Starbucks Workers United union. The other store was in Seattle.
Of the 19 stores Starbucks has closed in the past few months, 42% had union activity, the union said.
The fight to form a union has been hard, workers said.
In May, the National Labor Relations Board charged the company with unfair labor practices at two Kansas City area locations, including the Plaza store, where managers allegedly threatened and fired employees engaged in efforts to unionize.
At the Plaza location, employees faced stricter dress code enforcement as a result of their union activity and were threatened with a loss of future raises and benefits, according to the complaint.
Safety concerns
When company officials told workers that the store was being closed for safety reasons, workers said the explanation rang hollow.
Workers said they didn’t think the location was any more unsafe than any other coffee shop or retail store.
It’s true there were some safety concerns, but those have existed for years without the company responding, the union said. A union statement added that the Plaza store, located in a tourist hot spot, is the second busiest store in the district.
“We’ve been asking about meetings about safety and security,” Crowell said. “Let’s come up with solutions as the workers, as the people in the store who would know best what needs to be safe. Rather than doing that, Starbucks decided to cut us out altogether.”
There was a shooting earlier this month in the parking garage adjacent to the store, but workers feel that speaks more to the prevalence of gun violence in America than it does to that specific location, they said.
Addy Wright, a supervisor for three years at the Plaza store, said that she also had been stalked and followed before and that other female workers had been sexually harassed.
But some said the safety and security issues that they faced were typical of what retail workers face no matter where they work.
Meanwhile the closing leaves workers wondering about their future.
“I’m still processing,” said Kaity Barnes, a barista at the Plaza location for almost a year. “I can’t not have a job. I have bills to pay.”
Steve Henson, who has worked for Starbucks for nine years, including one year at the Plaza location after moving from the Chicago area, said he was blindsided by the closing and was completely shocked.
His future is up in the air. He said he could be transferred to another store has in the area or maybe seek employment at other companies.
“Hopefully better ones,” he said.
The Star’s Joyce Smith contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 23, 2022 at 1:29 PM.
