Days before the Collegetown Starbucks store is scheduled to close, workers gathered outside to call for a citywide boycott of the company.

The Collegetown store will close on Friday, one week after the company informed its employees of the closure. Unionized employees claim the closure is an act of union busting and illegal retaliation for union activity.

According to Bloomberg, Starbucks cited staffing and attendance issues as among the reasons for closure. Additionally, a Starbucks lawyer wrote to the union that other conditions of the store, such as a grease trap, were a factor in the decision to close.

After hearing about the upcoming closure, union employees demanded a list of reasons why the store would close. They then disputed each reason except for the grease trap, which they said could be fixed.

"We're fighting for our store and can't let them close," said Benjamin South, a Starbucks shift supervisor. "We're going to call for an Ithaca-wide boycott of Starbucks."

"We have the power of the community and they will have to listen to us," South said.

The rally on Wednesday began with a sip-in at noon and finished with a process conference two-and-a-half hours later.

"We're fighting not just for our jobs, but we're fighting for the whole effort," South said. "Starbucks Workers United goes way beyond Ithaca."

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Ithaca became the first city in the country to unionize all of its Starbucks locations in April. As of May 3, 240 Starbucks stores around the country petitioned for union elections.

"This is serving as an example for Starbucks around the country that they can't get away with this," said Brian Murray, a Starbucks worker and an SBWorkersUnited organizing committee member from the Buffalo area.

Gary Bonadonna, a regional Workers United leader called Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz a "union buster and a bully."

"The baristas wanted to form a union because they saw it as a method for a positive economic future," Bonadonna said. "Which side are you on?"

Fourth Ward residents joined the rally.

"Ithaca is a union city and we will protect every single one of our neighbors who belongs to one from their greedy bosses," said Jorge DeFendini, an alderperson for Ithaca's Fourth Ward. "If Starbucks will want to shut down this store, they will have to go through an entire city."

"Starbucks, solidarity is brewing in Ithaca and we are not going anywhere," said Tiffany Kumar, a candidate for the other Fourth Ward seat.

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This article originally appeared on Ithaca Journal: Ithaca Starbucks workers call for boycott over store closure