Two Philadelphia Starbucks baristas who were fired in 2020 after helping to launch an organizing effort have won their jobs back, as well as back pay, the National Labor Relations Board has decided.
TJ Bussiere and Echo Nowakowska previously turned down a settlement offer from Starbucks — they have said it would have been $50,000 each — in order to have their case heard in court. According to the NLRB, more than 90% of unfair labor practices cases end with a settlement.
The two were baristas at the Starbucks at South Broad Street and Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia, where they were part of the group that moved to organize workers. An administrative judge ordered their reinstatement and backpay in 2021, which Starbucks appealed. The board ultimately sided with the workers, rejecting Starbucks' arguments that the two employees were fired lawfully.
Nowakowska said that she is unsurprised by the decision and that she hopes it inspires workers to keep fighting. "Even though I'm happy that the board has made its ruling, I am angry that Starbucks can constantly appeal nearly every point and waste years of time," she said in an email.
"We disagree with the decision and are considering all options to obtain a full legal review of the matter," a spokesperson for Starbucks said in a statement Tuesday.
As a result of an expected appeal in federal court, Nowakowska said she doesn't expect to be returning to her old job immediately.
Philadelphia Baristas United filed a complaint against Starbucks in November 2019, saying Bussiere and Nowakowska had been disciplined in retaliation for organizing activities. Nowakowska was fired from the store the following January and Bussiere a month later.
Starbucks argued that it should not have to give Bussiere and Nowakowska their jobs back and back pay because the two baristas violated company rules by recording conversations with their managers at work. However, the NLRB said there is evidence that managers at Starbucks knew about the recordings before firing Bussiere and Nowakowska, and did not discipline or fire them for that reason.
Even though recording a person without consent is against Pennsylvania law, the board wrote, that law cannot be enforced in this instance because the recordings were a protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act.
The board also found that a store manager had violated labor law by surveilling employees' union activities at the 3400 Civic Center Blvd. location, near Penn Medicine, and interrogating one employee about union activities after Bussiere had taken a shift there. During the shift, a store manager secretly listened to Bussiere discussing the Philadelphia Fair Workweek Ordinance with a barista and shift supervisor, then questioned those two employees about their talks with Bussiere, the NLRB found.
The NLRB ordered Starbucks to stop threatening employees, reducing their hours, withholding training opportunities, issuing discipline, or firing employees for union support or activity, and to stop coercively interrogating, surveilling, or otherwise interfering with protected organizing activities. They also must post a notice of rights at the two stores.
Two more Philadelphia Starbucks stores were the subject of a new NLRB complaint, which was filed in January. The board accused store managers at the 20th and Market Street location and 34th and Walnut Street location of discouraging employees from forming a union, reducing the hours and wages of union workers without proper notice, and firing two workers for engaging in union activities.
In that case, Starbucks has contended that it did not violate labor law and did not fire any employees illegally.
The stores at 20th and Market and 34th and Walnut unionized last year as part of a wave of organizing across the United States through the Starbucks Workers United union.
Workers at the South Broad Street and Washington Avenue store have not filed paperwork with the NLRB to unionize. The 2019 complaint predates the campaign by Starbucks Workers United to organize stores across the country.
According to the union, the NLRB has filed at least 65 official complaints against Starbucks.
"Starbucks continues to be exposed as a ruthless union-buster, failing to uphold the 'progressive' values it touts as a marketing tactic," a spokesperson for Starbucks Workers United said in a statement Tuesday.
"Starbucks needs to stop retaliating and sit down at the bargaining table with the union," Nowakowska said. "If they won't do it voluntarily then the government must intervene, force them to bargain, and impose harsh penalties for years of violations."
Bussiere did not immediately respond to The Inquirer's requests for comment.
