Starbucks accused of illegally shutting down Kansas City’s Plaza location
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After being closed for over a year, federal regulators are trying to order a Starbucks location on the Country Club Plaza to reopen.
On Wednesday night, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint saying Starbucks unlawfully closed 23 union and non-union stores across the country in 2022.
Kansas City woman killed by stray bullet right in front of sister
The NLRB alleges the coffee chain closed the U.S. locations in an attempt to thwart off unionizing efforts.
The Starbucks store on the County Club Plaza was one of the first stores in the Kansas City area that tried to unionize, but the vote was a tie, which counts as a loss. The company later closed the location in August 2022, citing safety concerns.
Court documents say eight other U.S. locations had already organized when Starbucks closed the stores.
Federal regulators want Starbucks to reopen the 23 locations and compensate employees for lost wages and benefits.
The case will go before a judge next summer unless Starbucks settles the issue sooner.
New KC Wheel at Pennway Point opens this week in Kansas City
This is just the latest of several cases involving the coffee giant and the Starbucks Workers United union.
Mari Cosgrove, a Seattle Starbucks partner and member of Starbucks Workers United, issued the following statement:
“This complaint is the latest confirmation of Starbucks’ determination to illegally oppose workers’ organizing. It adds to the litany of complaints detailed in the company’s own report released this morning. If Starbucks is sincere in its overtures in recent days to forge a different relationship with its partners, this is exactly the kind of illegal behavior it needs to stop.”
It’s been two years since a Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, voted to unionize. It was the first company-owned store to join a union in more than three decades.
Download the FOX4 News app on iPhone and Android
Since then, more than 370 locations across 41 states have also unionized.
In the Kansas City area, four Starbucks locations — in Kansas City, Overland Park, Independence and Lawrence have successfully organized.
Just last month, thousands of workers at more than 200 U.S. Starbucks stores walked off the job for the company’s annual Red Cup Day. Organizers said it was the largest strike yet in their effort to unionize.
Starbucks employees are fighting for improved wages, more consistent schedules and more say in issues like store safety and workload.
In November, Starbucks announced it’s increasing pay and benefits for most of its U.S. hourly workers; however, unionized workers won’t be eligible for some of those perks.
Then last week, the company said it’s committed to bargaining with its unionized workers and reaching labor agreements next year.
