Hello, friends and mutuals!

A lot has happened since the last update on my job status.

As of November 4th, I have been officially reinstated into Starbucks through a very lengthy and frustrating run-around from HR and corporate telling me different, conflicting information about my severance, how to keep my tenure, and when and how I was allowed to return to Starbucks.

I was originally told that I would be paid severance until December 5th, and then within 30 days of that day, I could reapply to Starbucks and be reinstated at any store that is willing to hire me that has the capacity at their store to take me onto their team as a shift supervisor; keeping all my raises, benefits, tenure, etc.

I was then told 5 days into my severance that things changed, and that I could return to work as soon as THE NEXT DAY, but I did not get to choose what store, and I could not ask for more time to wait to start. I was also told that if I did not accept this offer, Starbucks would not go out of their way to help me be transfer/reinstated since I refused a job offer from the company despite being told I would be separated against my will, without the option to transfer to another location.

I declined this offer, and said I would reapply at a later date and take my time during my severance to reflect on the traumatic experience of how I was laid off so suddenly, and how it impacted my community, my fellow baristas, and myself.

I was then told a week later that things changed, again. My deadline to reapply was no longer 30 days after December 5th, but the deadline was pushed up to November 20th to reapply, or else I lose my tenure if I am not rehired by that day. This is understandably incredibly stupid, and robbed me of my security knowing I could be paid out fairly for being let go so abruptly. It instead pressured me to make a decision in such a short amount of time to return to work or lose out on the 5 years of tenure I had acquired, along with all my benefits, pay, awards, etc. Gone... No negotiating it.

I called Starbucks Partner Services in order to figure out why I could not reapply with the same email I had while employed, and why it was prompting to sign in with the employee portal, and couldn't actually reapply without running into this back-n-forth loop of "you must use an email" and then "this email is tied to a partner account, please use the login portal" and then "your numbers were either incorrect or an error occurred, please try again later" nonsense. When I finally got ahold of someone, they told me that I would be separated December 5th, which CONTRADICTS what my district manager had been telling me, so I called them, and they told me they'd escalate it to HR. A week goes by and I hear nothing back. Cool...

Obviously, I had to cave and make the choice to get rehired as soon as possible now that Starbucks was ONCE AGAIN forcing my hand and pressuring me to make a choice for THEIR benefit. Thankfully, every store manager in my district knows me from years of helping out at other stores from increased numbers of call-outs due to awful changes to Starbucks work culture and policies. I was also well-known for competing in the internal Starbucks Barista Championships, landing myself 2nd place in the quarter-finals and placing top-50 across the U.S. for barista champions. Needless to say, every manager wanted to hire me, and I was lucky enough that my manager from my previous store that got shut down was reassigned to a union store. You can imagine what happens next. She pulled some strings, and had me simply transferred into her store since I technically was still a part of the company and I DIDN'T HAVE TO REAPPLY like I was gaslit into believing.

My job is safe, and I now work at a unionized store!

As of now, it has been over 3 years since Starbucks stores have begun unionizing, and over a year since Starbucks last attempted to negotiate with unions for a contract. Over that time, Starbucks has committed HUNDREDS of union-busting practices, and been caught red-handed time and time again. The NLRA (National Labor Relations Board) has sided with Starbucks union (Starbucks Workers United) over and over again finding that Starbucks has in fact been found guilty of these violations over and over again, and has continued to do so despite being told over and over to stop.

For one example, you are required to work clopens if your shifts are 8 hours apart from each other. Which means if I close at 9PM, they can have me come in to work as soon as 5AM, and I can't complain about it or call out without protected sick pay or else be written up for insubordination for refusing to work a clopen. The company also gaslights you, saying they "don't schedule clopens because it is not a term used in our policy" as a means to bullshit their way around it and pressure you into caving into their shitty scheduling styles when stores don't have enough employees to work all day-parts all week long.

We are still scheduled with limited floors of people, sometimes skeleton crews, and are expected to find coverage on our own before a manager is supposed to step in and help even though that can be when the store is absolutely slammed and several call-outs occur within 2 hours of those shifts. You are also not allowed to clock in EARLY or LATE by 1 minute, you must clock in WITHIN THE 60 SECONDS OF THE MINUTE YOUR SHIFT STARTS. Meanwhile, Starbucks beverage quality standards say an espresso shot is allowed to sit on the bar for two minutes before it's considered "expired." Espresso shots are allowed to wait longer than I am allowed to clock in for work...

If your store managers chooses to work Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New-Years just so only they can earn a bonus for working a holiday, you MUST work a shift those days or you will most likely be terminated. We are not allowed to have protected days off, they are considered a "courtesy" and can be overwritten anytime managers deem it necessary for business. Your availability can also be ignored at any time for any reason, and there's virtually nothing you can do to protest against it when it happens if the "business needs" come first.

Needless to say, there is a LOT of unfair labor practices we are fighting against that NOBODY should have to work under, especially at a place like Starbucks that brags and claims to be a leading retail business that "sets the standard" for being "best in the industry" for employee benefits and working conditions, that they're "competitive" despite having policies that otherwise pressure and grind baristas into burn-out with unrelenting coaching, expectations and quotas to coach people at LEAST once a day, and that if it isn't done, you can be written up for not doing so as a shift supervisor. This creates a toxic work environment built around the concept of "policing quotas" that you won't ever be good enough, and that you are always being watched for mistakes. Creating this unrealistic expectation to be both perfect, and being told that nobody is perfect, and that you will have to be "coachable" despite the fact the mistakes you make are human and will happen again and will be scrutinized. Not because you might need it, but because your supervisors are required to or else face write-ups for not reporting on coaching performance.

Our CEO Brian Niccol makes over 6666% more money a YEAR than your hourly barista who earns an average of $15.50 per hour. To put it into perspective, he was paid $95.8 million dollars, plus a private jet paid for to commute to and from California to Washington WEEKLY for work. Starbucks claims they offer us a $30 benefits package starting day 1. Those "benefits" are things like 401k, stock-matching, donation-matching, Spotify, and plenty of other so-called benefits that are kind of the bare-minimum for decent jobs. Do you REALLY think I can afford 60% of my monthly income to rent? Do you REALLY think I can afford to partake in any of your stupid $401k bullshit when I can hardly make a living for myself??

I personally earn $25.94 an hour as a shift supervisor, 5 years tenured. My rent for my 1-bedroom 550sq. ft. apartment under AFFORDABLE HOUSING is $1650 a month before utilities and building services/fees. (I had to get a COSIGNER by the way, who earns over 5x MY MONTHLY RENT just to be able to sign the fucking lease. THAT'S INSANE!) My rent does not include my internet, my renters insurance, my car insurance, insurance premiums, deductibles when using any insurance, gas, car registration, food, personal care products... need I continue? My monthly take-home is roughly $2900-3100, that includes tips. If over $2000 is already gone by the end of the month, and my hours aren't guaranteed. I was lucky to get 32-35 hours average. I HAD TO PICK UP SHIFTS to earn close to 40 hours a week, and I do that REGULARLY to be able to take home $2900+ a month. It's exhausting having to sacrifice more hours of my day I didn't want to sacrifice, or sacrificing days I'm scheduled to have off work, just to come in to make enough to be able to afford saving a little money or spending it on things for myself from time to time.

Union stores make up 7% and growing of all Starbucks stores in the U.S. We will not stop, or back down, until we are treated better for the incredible amount of work asked of us from a company that thinks they owe us nothing more than a 2% "pay increase" in our contract. Over a hundred labor lawyers, and over 80 Democratic senators and house representatives have reached out to Starbucks in attempts to encourage them to return to negotiating in good faith, as well as shareholders.

That all being said... the unions will be going on strike indefinitely starting November 13th (tomorrow) and striking until Starbucks either comes back to the negotiation table and change their crappy 2% pay increase offer (which is the annual raise starting baristas get by the way) or else we will escalate the seriousness of our strikes and protests until Starbucks finally decides to take us seriously.

I ask everyone to please participate in these strikes in person, or in spirit, and to not purchase from Starbucks during these strikes. Please support local coffee businesses if you don't already do so, try making coffee at home in the meantime, and please spread the word! If Starbucks thinks they can just rob me of my store, my job, and my mental security of my life and only give me 3 days to say goodbye to it all before FINALLY telling me what happens to my job security and get away with it... they can go straight to hell.

The entire board and all the suits behind these union-busting practices. I will never go quietly, and neither will the rest of us who want to stand up for better rights for us you all deem so expendable in the bottom line. We earn your money, we do it by hand, we do it daily, and we do it despite all the bullshit you put us through, and you can't even give us a hand-up during the worst times this economy has seen in decades to show us you "care" about us.

For everyone who lost their jobs, their stores, their communities, felt burnout, felt left behind... I strike for them all.
No regrets, no fear; what else do I have to lose that they haven't already taken from me?

No contract, no coffee. Boycott Starbucks. Support unions. Support me.

If you would like to learn more about our fight; what we have endured, and what we are fighting for, check out here: https://sbworkersunited.org/

Thank you, and wish us luck!