Pittsburgh area baristas strike as part of Starbucks union national bus tour

Starbucks workers from across the country joined local baristas at the company’s Bloomfield and Eastside locations on Thursday in a strike against stalled contract negotiations and alleged union busting tactics.

The pickets are part of a 13-city Starbucks Workers United bus tour that kicked off in Louisville on July 16. Wrapped in SBWU logos, the bus stopped at the Pleasant Hills Starbucks on Wednesday and brought supporters to Schenley Plaza Thursday evening for a block party before heading to Philadelphia.

“Partners voted for bargaining not buses,” a Starbucks spokesperson said, using the company’s term for their employees. “Perhaps that’s why partners at a dozen stores across the US — including our Penn Center East store in Pittsburgh — have already filed petitions to decertify Workers United as their bargaining representative.”

Unionized Starbucks stores in Pittsburgh have gone on strike multiple times since organizing got underway last year. Connor Dermon, a barista from Kentucky who joined the picket line in Bloomfield, said the strike was meant to educate people about the union’s fight for a contract — not just stick it to the company.

“When you get the public against you, you don’t fight back much longer,” Dermon said.

The strike focused on allegations that the company withheld tips from baristas at the unionized Easton, Pa., location as they worked in non-union stores during renovations, a violation of their effects bargaining agreement.

A Starbucks spokesperson called the allegations “meritless” and attributed the issue to a technical error with credit card tips that they’re working to resolve.

In unfair labor practice charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board, the union has alleged more than 1,300 violations by the company, including 73 terminations.

A June 30 NLRB ruling found that Starbucks illegally fired four workers in Pittsburgh who supported unionization, ordering their reinstatement.

While the stores were staffed by workers and managers from nearby Starbucks, more than a dozen baristas gathered at each location to persuade customers to get their coffee elsewhere.

Many people, including those sympathetic to the union, had already placed mobile orders without knowledge of the picket. Customers were able to seek refunds.

Margarita Lara, 64, of Polish Hill, spoke with workers at the Bloomfield location before deciding to take her business elsewhere.

“This is what I’m talking about: Unity,” Lara said.

Besides parts of Kentucky, baristas have come from Columbus, Buffalo and other cities for the tour stop in Pittsburgh. This week marked the first visit to Pittsburgh for Tati Gurskiy, a former shift supervisor who has a pending wrongful termination case with the NLRB. Gurskiy worked at a store in Buffalo, the cradle of Starbucks unionization.

“I do feel the same energy,” Gurskiy said. “It’s a union town.”