UPDATED 8:35 a.m. 5/15/22
PEORIA, Ill. – Something one employee of a Starbucks location in Peoria has been able to do easily before, isn’t able to do now, she alleges, because one of those stores is now unionized.
The Campustown Starbucks Saturday — one of few nationwide who’s so far been allowed to unionize — held a half-day “ULP” picket, or, Unfair Labor Practices.
Workers there say an employee who has long transferred between Campustown and her home area when Bradley University isn’t in session now isn’t being given hours, and may lose her job altogether as a result.
“Starbucks is breaking the law,” employee Jon Gill told 25 News. “Starbucks is retaliating against us, and if we do not organize ourselves to fight back, then we are showing Starbucks that we are allowing them to break the law.”
Managers at Campustown declined to comment to 25 News when they showed up at the picket Saturday.
The Starbucks at University and Pioneer Parkway is also working on unionization.
“When we build a union, and we build it to have power in that workplace, that’s only going to happen when we actually stand up,” said Gill.
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ORIGINAL STORY:
PEORIA, Ill. — Workers at the Campustown Starbucks store in Peoria are now on strike.
The Union organizing committee said in a release that workers would be picketing until 1 p.m. Saturday.
“We, workers at the Starbucks at University & Main are on a ULP strike until 1pm today. One of our coworkers, a student, is being denied a transfer to her home store. This will effectively result in her termination if we cannot put pressure on Starbucks to allow the transfer. This is retaliation and we demand that Starbucks allow the transfer.”
Esau Chavez
Union Organizer | CMRJB Workers United
