Starbucks has fired a Buffalo, New York, worker who “ignited a movement” from one of the first stores in the coffee chain to unionize, Starbucks Workers United said Friday.
The firing came the same week that former CEO Howard Schultz testified before Congress, where he was grilled by lawmakers for the company’s labor practices and alleged union-busting.
Alexis Rizzo had been shift supervisor at the Genesee Street store in Buffalo for more than 7 years, the union said. That store was one of the first of two locations to officially win their union campaigns in January 2022 after the federal labor board certified its results. Rizzo was the worker who first contacted the union.
“This is retaliation at its worst,” a statement from Starbucks Workers United said. The union noted two other employees were fired and a union leader was written up.
Rizzo said she was fired after her shift Friday for attendance and being late, discipline issues that stemmed from the beginning of the union campaign. She said she was fired after a few instances of being several minutes late to work, though the company said she had missed over four hours of work over six separate incidents.
Rizzo said she began “sobbing” when she heard. She said her partner is disabled after being hit by a car while riding a bicycle, so she is currently the sole provider for the household.
“This is not just a job,” Rizzo said, adding she will fight “tooth and nail” to get reinstated. “I feel like I’ve lost everything. It’...
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