A Starbucks in northeast Alabama was closed on Sunday after workers there organized a strike to protest working conditions and unfair labor practices – according to a statement released by Starbucks Workers United. Those Workers gathered outside the coffee shop located in Scottsboro (Alabama) with signs, and Carla Gonzalez, an employee at the store, stated workers would not report for shifts on Sunday, but that they would re-open as usual Monday.
Gonzalez says employees at the store on John T. Reid Parkway are overworked because the store is understaffed, and she said some employees have been unfairly fired from the store.
Gonzalez said that “Quite a few have been injured due to water leaks,” – and she stated members of the union have filed formal complaints against the company, and hope the strike will bring owners to the bargaining table. The company didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The Scottsboro Starbucks has become the second in Alabama to unionize after a close vote last year. The workers are part of a nationwide movement to organize the workers at the popular chain. Starbucks Workers United represents 8,500 employees at more than 350 stores nationwide, according to their website.
Members of the union have filed numerous complaints against Starbucks. In one recent case, a federal appeals court ruled that the company should hire back seven workers at the location in Memphis who supported the union.
A store in Birmingham became the first to unionize in 2022.
Birmingham and Scottsboro stores have been the ONLY ones to thus far unionize in Alabama.