The Starbucks on Highland and Poplar fired seven of its employees Tuesday morning, all of whom were leaders of the Memphis movement to unionize. The former employees, along with members of the Memphis Restaurant Workers United organization, gathered outside the store Tuesday afternoon to protest.
The seven employees had been working to organize a union for three weeks, filing their official petition on January 17, citing insufficient pay and lack of adherence to guidelines from management, despite their public image as a progressive and liberal-minded company.
“They’re just like the rest,” said Beto Sanchez, one of the fired employees. “At that point we got tired of it.”
Sanchez said that tensions between the workers and the Starbucks corporate management had been escalating since the petition was filed. On Monday night, he said he and his fellow employees received a call from his manager asking them to come in for a “one-on-one” conversation the next day. When they arrived, they were confronted with representatives from the corporate office.
“And we were like ‘Oh, I’m gonna get fired,’” Sanchez said.
Though management presented them with specific infractions as the reasoning for their termination, Sanchez said that they were based on policies that had never been specified to them and that they had received no warnings for their actions before being fired.
“It didn’t even take five minutes,” said Nabretta Hardim, another of the former Highland store workers.
Hardim said she was fired for being behind the bar while off the clock, the same reason given to Sanchez.
Representatives from Memphis Restaurant Workers United had been working with the seven former employees and quickly organized a protest to take place at 4 p.m. that day outside the store. Demonstrators held up signs along the sidewalk on Poplar Ave. with pro-union slogans such as “Memphis is a union town” and “scabs suck,” encouraging drivers to honk in support.
Sanchez said they plan to come out and demonstrate every day until their demands are met.
“We’ve got the time now,” he said.
Both workers and union representatives showed up Tuesday evening to protest the firing of seven pro-union Starbucks employees.
Both workers and union representatives showed up Tuesday evening to protest the firing of seven pro-union Starbucks employees.
