Rallying outside 20 Starbucks stores across Buffalo, organizers aim to show the company that"Buffalo is a union town and we won't accept union-busting here."Workers at 20 Starbucks locations throughout Buffalo, New York—where the push to unionize the coffee chain's U.S. stores began a year ago—appealed to their community on Tuesday as they rallied to gather support for labor organizers who have been fired by the company in recent months.
"We're not only building a movement for Starbucks workers, we're building a cohesive labor movement."since employees in Buffalo filed for a union election last year, in cities including Memphis, Tennessee; Overland, Kansas; and Buffalo. "Starbucks has fired 10 union leaders in Buffalo alone," said an organizer on Tuesday, standing outside one of the chain's stores."Today we're standing on our streets in front of our stores asking our city and our community to stand with us and condemn Starbucks for their disgusting union-busting behavior."
The organizer was joined by one community member holding a sign that read,"Starbucks Customer for a Starbucks Union" and several other supportive Buffalo residents. Workers planned the action for the morning rush, from 7:00 am.