[Lexi Rizzo, Starbucks Buffalo shift supervisor for seven years at
one of the first stores to unionize, says company claims she was fired
for tardiness.]
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STARBUCKS FIRES BUFFALO WORKER WHO FOUNDED UNION CAMPAIGN  
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Michael Sainato
April 3, 2023
The Guardian
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_ Lexi Rizzo, Starbucks Buffalo shift supervisor for seven years at
one of the first stores to unionize, says company claims she was fired
for tardiness. _

Starbucks strike outside a store in Buffalo, New York, on 17 November
2022., Lindsay Dedario/Reuters

 

Two days after the Starbucks chairman and former CEO Howard Schultz
was grilled during a Senate committee
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hearing on the company’s response to union organizing at its stores,
Starbucks fired three union organizers and disciplined another
organizer in the Buffalo, New York, area where the union campaign
began.
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Among those to lose their jobs was Lexi Rizzo, a shift supervisor for
seven years in Buffalo at one of the first stores to unionize and a
leading founder of the union campaign. The union has characterized the
actions as retaliation.

“My store manager was sobbing her eyes out when she was firing me
about how much she knew I loved and cared about my store and how she
didn’t want to do this. I put everything I have into my store,”
said Rizzo, who was fired on Friday 31 March. “It’s honestly, so
far in my life, one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve had
happen. Anyone that I work with, any of my partners would attest to
how much I love and care for my store.”

Rizzo worked at one of the first two Starbucks
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the US in Buffalo and has served on the organizing committee since the
campaign first launched in August 2021. Starbucks denied the store
manager sobbed when firing Rizzo.

Rizzo said the reason provided for her termination was tardiness, with
the latest cited tardiness being two months ago. Previous write-ups
she received were included in a sweeping administrative law judge
decision issued in March 2023 over firings, retaliation and
retaliatory discipline of Starbucks workers in the Buffalo area, with
Starbucks noting one tardiness write-up was upheld in the decision.

“They cited two times when I was one minute late to work. Another
time, I was four minutes late to work and another time, I was five
minutes late to work,” said Rizzo. “The one minute late can be
clocking into the iPads because these iPads used to clock in, they
take forever to load. For those, that’s just absurd to me, and the
other times I had called the store to let them know I was going to be
running late due to weather,” argued Rizzo.

Starbucks claims there were several late attendance infractions that
were longer.

In a sometimes combative Senate hearing
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week Senator Bernie Sanders accused Starbucks of running “the most
aggressive and illegal union-busting campaign in the modern history of
our country”. Schultz dismissed the charges as “allegations” and
said: “Starbucks has not broken the law.”

Starbucks Workers United has claimed more than 200 workers at
Starbucks stores involved in union organizing campaigns have been
fired throughout the campaign. The National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) or judges have issued orders to reinstate 22 Starbucks
employees so far, though not all orders have been enforced yet.
Administrative law judges found violations of the National Labor
Relations Act in eight cases against Starbucks.

Starbucks has disputed all court and board rulings against them and
rejected all charges of retaliation against workers for unionizing.

To date, about 300 Starbucks stores have won union elections around
the US, with hundreds of unfair labor practice charges filed with the
National Labor Relations Board still being reviewed and adjudicated.

Gianna Reeve, another Starbucks union leader in Buffalo was issued
with a write-up right after she was alerted that Rizzo had been fired.
Two other workers involved with the union in Buffalo were also
reportedly
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fired late last week.

“I kind of knew something was going to happen before I ever clocked
in. I woke up to get ready for my shift and I looked to see a text and
a group chat from Lexi Rizzo, saying they just fired me and feeling my
heart sink into my stomach, because Lexi was the first of us. She’s
the whole reason why Starbucks Workers United exists,” said Reeve.

She said that when she went into work, a manager she had never seen
before was with her store manager to give her a disciplinary write-up.

“My crime is putting the blinds down at sunset,” said Reeve.
“It’s just the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life,
and this happened two days after Howard Schultz testified in the
Senate. It’s the most vindictive thing that Starbucks could have
attempted. Time and time again, we want to extend an olive branch. We
don’t want this to keep happening. We do not want a war and yet
Starbucks continues on a warpath.” Starbucks did not comment
directly on the details of Reeve’s write-up.

A GoFundMe
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was launched to support Lexi Rizzo and her co-workers held a strike
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store over the weekend in protest of her firing. Rizzo explained the
termination came as her partner has been out of work while recovering
from a debilitating bike incident and she is filing an unfair labor
practice charge with the NLRB over her firing. Starbucks denied the
firing was retaliatory, and cited attendance write-ups

“I will fight tooth and nail to get my job back,” added Rizzo.
“I love my store. I love my partners, I love this company. Even
despite all of this, I still truly believe that this company could be
a beautiful place to work again.”

A Starbucks spokesperson said in an email: “Our policies exist to
maintain a welcoming environment for all partners and customers, and
interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies
and procedures that apply to all.

“Separations follow clear violations of policies only and in this
case, the partner had been on progressive discipline for missing more
than four hours of work over six instances. We appreciate that our
Genesee Street partners provided the Starbucks Experience to each
other and our customers Saturday morning, and that all area stores
continue to serve customers without interruption.”

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* Starbucks Union Campaign; Lexi Rizzo; Starbucks
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* Buffalo;
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