It's been more than a year since Starbucks closed a location inside Union Station back in July of 2022. At the time, Starbucks didn't provide much explanation for the closure, only citing safety issues.
Now, the federal government is saying the company actually closed the doors to keep employees from unionizing.
The National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint this week, listing 23 Starbucks stores nationwide that should reopen immediately, according to the regulator.
The complaint also accuses the company of union busting.
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"It makes me feel really angry, because I think the company gets to say a lot that they are a company that cares for its partners, like they keep calling us," said Lydia Fernandez, a Starbucks barista based in Philadelphia.
Fernandez's store recently unionized, and not long after, in July 2022, the company closed a nearby location. The Union Station store closed at the same time.
"I feel as if it could have just as easily been my location," Fernandez said. "The reason Starbucks claimed at the time was safety concerns."
At the time the Union Station store closed, the closure was seen as a sign of the pandemic-related deterioration the train station went through. Even so, Starbucks employees said in 2022 that they were not consulted about safety in the closing stores, or given options aside from closing the locations. Questions about unionization efforts and retaliation were quickly raised.
Even though a representative for the local Starbucks Workers' Union says employees at Union Station hadn't started the process of unionizing when it closed, the store is one of those 23 locations across the country that regulators say should reopen immediately.
The NLRB alleges that Starbucks shut down the locations to discourage membership in labor organizations, and says that all employees should be hired back and given back pay.
News4 reached out to Starbucks for comment, and they responded Friday evening.
“In support of our Reinvention Plan, and as part of our ongoing efforts to transform our store portfolio, we continue to open, close and evolve our stores as we assess, reposition and strengthen our store portfolio," said EVP and President of Starbucks Sara Trilling in an email.
"Each year as a standard course of business, we evaluate the store portfolio to determine where we can best meet our community and customers’ needs. This includes opening new locations, identifying stores in need of investment or renovation, exploring locations where an alternative format is needed and, in some instances, re-evaluating our footprint."
A representative for the company also told the New York Times that they routinely open, close and alter stores as a standard course of business.
That rep also told the New York Times that only 3% of the 100 stores that closed last year were unionized.
“I really want to see this lead into more, you know, looking into why companies do the things that they do and starting to hold them accountable," Fernandez said.
The NLRB says it will try to work out some sort of settlement over the next few months. If they can't reach one, it will go before a judge in August.
Starbucks baristas at more than 200 locations nationwide went on strike on the company's busy Red Cup promotion day back in November over a variety of labor practices that workers allege are unfair.
