Starbucks employee was fired illegally, labor board judge rules

The union representing employees, Starbucks Workers United, has accused the company of firing more than 80 employees because of their activism. The Starbucks union has racked up 220 election wins out of roughly 9,000 corporate-owned US stores in the past year.

The board said that employees are turning to established and independent unions in an effort to address a range of work-place issues, including wages, benefits and concerns relating to pandemic health and safety.

The NLRB said that 2,510 union petitions were filed in the fiscal year to September, up from 1,638 over the same period a year earlier. Unfair labor practice charges filed with NLRB field offices increased 19%, the agency added.

Although unionization efforts at Starbucks and Amazon have received the most public attention, a number of worker drives from other, sometimes unexpected, quarters have joined them.

In a memo Thursday, the NRLB said that 30 dancers at a topless bar in Hollywood, California, would vote next month on whether to join the Actors Equity Association, a union that represents 51,000 professional actors and stage managers.

Dancers at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar have picketed for months for better workplace conditions including higher wages, access to benefits, better security and safer stages.