An apparent battle between management and disgruntled baristas is brewing at the Howe Avenue Starbucks in Cuyahoga Falls.
Workers at Starbucks’ 371 Howe Ave. location in Cuyahoga Falls filed a petition this week for a union election while also raising concerns about wages, hours, safety and alleged racist comments.
The petitioning employees work in a standalone building and not at the Starbucks in the nearby Target, which also has a Howe Avenue address.
About 20 Starbucks employees work at the 371 Howe Ave. store, and most of them were involved in the petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Nick Hillier, barista at the Howe Avenue store, said Thursday.
Those employees, working with Starbucks Workers United, represent one of the groups from 18 Starbucks stores that filed a petition on Tuesday. The union comprises more than 10,500 workers at more than 440 stores in the U.S. and Washington D.C., according to a press release.
“We would not have been able to accomplish this without the guidance of the people at Starbucks Workers United who initially laid the groundwork and then showed us how to proceed down that path,” Hillier said.
Starbucks Workers United expects a decision from NLRB on the Howe Avenue workers’ petition by the end of June, said Jacob Welsh, field organizer with Workers United, of which Starbucks Workers United is a part.
Welsh declined to comment on any other Starbucks unionization efforts in Northeast Ohio.
A Starbucks representative said in an emailed statement that its workers, whom it calls “partners,” have a right to make decisions surrounding unions.
“We are committed to delivering on our promise to offer a bridge to a better future to all Starbucks partners,” the spokesperson said.
Concerns about wages and scheduling
Hillier and Rock Lee, who is also a barista at the Howe Avenue location, said they support Starbucks Workers United’s push to increase wages for employees.
The union is pushing for a $20-per-hour starting wage, said Hillier, who added that he believes the starting wage at the Howe Avenue location is currently around $15 or $16 per hour.
Hillier said there are fewer employees at the Howe Avenue store than there were when he joined the business in 2022, so he now has a busier schedule. He said he has seen a slight wage increase but doesn’t feel his compensation has increased accordingly with the additional work he is now required to do.
Lee said the Howe Avenue store requires its workers to work a minimum of 25 hours per week, adding that about 10 workers who were unable to meet that minimum were fired about six months ago. Since then, Lee said, most of the store’s workers have been working nearly 40 hours per week.
Many of the store’s workers have voiced opposition to a near 40-hour work week schedule because they also take classes or work second jobs, Lee said.
Lee, who uses they/them pronouns, said they attend online classes through Arizona State University. The university has a partnership with Starbucks, and the company provides tuition reimbursem*nt to employees. Lee said they receive partial tuition reimbursem*nt.
Lee said management overseeing thet Howe Avenue location "are very aware that most of us are under extreme amounts of stress and don’t have much of a personal life outside of work.”
The Howe Avenue Starbucks store’s management did not respond to the Beacon Journal's requests for comment.
But Starbucks’ communications team provided the following statement: “Starbucks is dedicated to partner-centric scheduling and providing partners with hours that align with their individual needs and preferences is a top priority. This is reflected in Starbucks commitment to diligently create work schedules that carefully balance the availability of our partners with the staffing needs of individual stores.”
Complaints around physical safety and verbal abuse
Lee and Hillier said equipment at the Howe Avenue location is constantly broken or malfunctioning, leading to concerns about worker safety.
Lee said they are not aware of any serious injuries that have occurred because of the faulty equipment but that the equipment has jeopardized the quality of drinks going out to customers.
Lee said multiple workers have witnessed and reported to human resources racist comments and actions in the workplace, but Lee said nothing was done. One instance, according to Lee, included a former manager calling a Black employee “too aggressive” and a corporate employee disregarding a bruise on a Black person, instead calling the bruise a birthmark.
Lee also said there was a situation in which someone who was high "started harming themselves in the bathroom and ended up getting blood in the cafe.”
Lee said the protocol would normally be to shut down the entire store, but in this case only the lobby was closed and not the drive-thru.
When asked about the allegations raised by workers at the Howe Avenue store, Starbucks' communication team released the following statement:
“We are committed to ensuring our partners feel safe and supported at work so they can focus on providing our customers the warm, welcoming Starbucks experience they’ve come to love and expect,” the response states. “We routinely review the partner and customer experience in our stores to ensure the store is thriving, partners feel supported and we are meeting customer needs. Where issues in store jeopardize the well-being of our partners, we have been working with deep care and urgency to take action.”
Both Lee and Hillier said they believe that local workers should organize regardless of which industry they work in.
“It is a right that we have as Americans to organize our labor,” Hillier said. “I think it's one of the most important rights that any worker has, and I think everybody should look into it.”
Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at pwilliams@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @pwilliamsOH.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cuyahoga Falls Starbucks workers vote to unionize. Here's why
