The National Labor Relations Board is asking a judge to order Starbucks to reopen 23 shuttered locations around the U.S. – including at Bryn Mawr and Winthrop avenues in Edgewater – claiming the company closed the coffee shops as retaliation for employees unionizing or to hinder their organizing efforts.
The complaint, filed by the NLRB’s regional director in Seattle on Wednesday, says Starbucks failed to bargain over the effects of shutting down the Edgewater cafe and others in violation of federal labor law. The NLRB also accuses the coffee giant of interfering with employees’ rights and illegally trying to discourage them from joining a union.
“This complaint is the latest confirmation of Starbucks’ determination to illegally oppose workers’ organizing,” Seattle-based employee and union member Mari Cosgrove said in a statement. “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.”
The Edgewater location – which has since been replaced by the Chicago-based coffee chain Sip & Savor – voted to unionize in May of last year. At the end of October, the company shut it down. At the time, Starbucks said it was due to ongoing safety issues the company could not solve.
Former employee and union supporter Carlos Toral told WTTW News that while the store did have problems with safety, “the timing of it all is also pretty sketch and quite on the nose … that is...
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