OVIEDO, Fla. – Employees of the only unionized Starbucks in Central Florida are calling on the company to meet them at the bargaining table.
Seven months after the employees voted to make the Oviedo store a union shop, workers are still waiting for a chance to present these bargaining proposals to the company.
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“We just got put on hold, but it’s been largely radio silence from corporate...” said Clay Blastic, a Starbucks supervisor at the Oviedo location along Mitchell Hammock Road. “We love Starbucks. We love our job, but we feel that Starbucks isn’t living up to its stated mission and goals in terms of supporting its partners.”
Blastic and his colleagues went on strike over the weekend along with Starbucks Workers United. The Oviedo location was just one of about 100 locations that participated across the U.S.
Blastic said the employees at the Oviedo store walked out after Starbucks management rolled back the newly launched credit card tipping option — which allows customers to add a tip to their bills — calling it “blatant retaliation.”
“Going into the busiest three weeks of the year, it was a severe pay cut,” Blastic said.
However, Starbucks issued a statement regarding the rollback, which explains that the company is obligated by law to bring the service to the bargaining table before launching it in union-represented stores.
“It is unfortunate that (Starbucks) Workers United continues to spread misleading claims while disrupting the Starbucks Experience that our partners and customers have come to love and expect,” Starbucks Communications Director Rachel Wall wrote. “Despite these delay tactics, we remain focused on working together and engaging meaningfully and directly with the union to make Starbucks a company that works for everyone, and we urge Workers United to uphold their promises to partners by moving the bargaining process forward.”
Blastic said there were other issues that employees have, such as work hours being slashed, which has pushed some to find other jobs.
“People aren’t getting put on the schedule at all. People aren’t able to make rent... I’d like to believe that Starbucks can meet us at the table and respect us as the people who power their stores,” Blastic said.
Blastic told News 6 that the tentative bargaining date was set in November, but it never happened.
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