One year after Starbucks workers in Ithaca, New York, successfully unionized all locations in the city, Starbucks plans to close them all.
Workers in the remaining Starbucks locations were informed earlier this month that the East Seneca Street and South Meadow Street locations would be closed by May 26, according to reports.
Starbucks said that the decision to close the stores had nothing to do with union organization and everything to do with the financial stability of the locations. However, a Starbucks worker at one location in the city told the Cornell Daily Sun that a manager blamed the closure on the unionization.
Starbucks says the closing of its stores is part of a “Reinvention Plan.”
“In support of our Reinvention Plan, and as part of our ongoing efforts to transform our store portfolio, we continue to open, close and evolve our stores as we assess, reposition and strengthen our store portfolio,” said President of Starbucks North America Sara Trilling in a statement.
Three locations were initially unionized in Ithaca last year as part of a broad unionization effort led by Starbucks Workers United. Within a few months, Starbucks closed the most profitable locations, leaving the town with just two stand-alone Starbucks stores.
Since many of the customers from the most profitable store, located on College Avenue, went to the other stores in the area, workers aren’t buying Starbucks’ version of the story.
Newly revealed corporate emails tell a different version of the College Avenue closing. In the emails, Starbucks executives cite “brand needs” as a reason for closing the store. Workers believe this is about the negative media attention the store was getting over the union drive and complaints about working conditions.
The closings come as Starbucks faces national pressure to improve its treatment of union organizers. Interim CEO Howard Schultz received a grilling on Capitol Hill by lawmakers who say the company under his leadership carried out illegal union-busting tactics.
He rebuffed the accusation.
“Starbucks coffee company, unequivocally — and let me set the tone for this very early on — has not broken the law,” he told the Senate panel.
According to Starbucks Workers United, over 300 stores in the U.S. have formed a union, and not one of them has successfully negotiated a contract with the company.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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