Kansas City Starbucks closed to squash union, feds say. It could be forced to reopen
Federal labor regulators are looking to force Starbucks to reopen its store at the Country Club Plaza and nearly two dozen other locations that were shuttered across the country in 2022, in a move that was allegedly done to suppress union organizing.
The complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board accused Starbucks of closing stores that had engaged in union activity and failed to participate in collective bargaining with unionized stores. Of the 23 stores, eight had active unions at the time they were closed.
NLRB said Starbucks should reopen the 23 stores and reinstate employees who were transferred to other locations, left the company or lost their job because of the closures. Employees should also be compensated for lost earnings and benefits and time they may have spent searching for new jobs.
“This complaint is the latest confirmation of Starbucks’ determination to illegally oppose workers’ organizing,” Mari Cosgrove, a member of Starbucks Workers United in Seattle, said in a statement.
“It adds to the litany of complaints detailed in the company’s own report released this morning. If Starbucks is sincere in its overtures in recent days to forge a different relationship with its partners, this is exactly the kind of illegal behavior it needs to stop.”
Starbucks has until Dec. 27 to respond to the complaint.
In a statement to The Star, a Starbucks spokesperson referred to comments earlier this month from Starbucks North America Executive Vice President Sara Trilling, who said the company continues to open and close stores to strengthen its portfolio.
“Each year as a standard course of business, we evaluate the store portfolio to determine where we can best meet our community and customers’ needs,” she said in a statement. “This includes opening new locations, identifying stores in need of investment or renovation, exploring locations where an alternative format is needed and, in some instances, re-evaluating our footprint.”
Plaza Starbucks closing
Workers at the Plaza Starbucks at 302 Nichols Road told The Star they had just a few minutes notice when their store was suddenly closed the afternoon of Aug. 22, 2022. They believed the store, one of the first Starbucks locations in the Kansas City metro to attempt unionization, was shut down to halt the efforts to unionize.
“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,” Josh Crowell, a barista, told The Star after the closure.
Crowell was among about 10 workers who picketed outside the store to protest the closing in August. Workers were told they’d receive their last paycheck that week and hear their options for reassignment from management.
At the time, a Starbucks spokesperson told The Star that the Plaza location closed because of safety issues and crime in the area.
Police records from the three months leading up to the closing showed seven calls to the area ranging from armed assault to a recovered stolen vehicle and an administrative call. None of the calls resulted in officers filing a police report.
The Plaza Starbucks was among a growing number of locations across the country and the Kansas City metro trying to unionize. There are now 11 unionized locations in Missouri, including a store at 41st and Main streets in Kansas City that unionized last week.
An administrative hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 20, 2024.
