Starbucks is being sued: Here's what's happening with the coffee company

Starbucks getting sued by unionised workers
© Future Publishing / Contributeur
Starbucks getting sued by unionised workers
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Starbucks is being sued by unionised workers after allegedly being accused for assault and kidnapping.

According to Reuters, Starbucks has been sued on Monday by eight unionised workers in a South Carolina store after they were reportedly wrongly accused of criminal conduct. This after they demanded a raise from their manager.

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Unspecified compensatory and punitive damages

The lawsuit was filed in the South Carolina state court against Starbucks and the store manager in Anderson, a few miles from Clemson University, Reuters reports.

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Back in June, the workers of the Starbucks store had voted 18-0 in favour of unionising, and on August 1 they sent a letter to their store manager demanding a raise.

According to the workers, the store manager had thereafter reached out to a district manager and falsely reported that her coworkers were preventing her from leaving the store.

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Two days later the store manager contacted the police and demanded that law enforcement charge the workers with assault and kidnapping.

As a result the local sheriff visited the homes of some of the workers, but according to the workers, ultimately it was concluded that they had done nothing illegal.

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'Abusing Legal Process'

Bloomberg reports about the view of the workers who say that the company had spread falsehoods about them and have abused the legal process in response to a union protest.

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Starbucks getting sued by unionised workers  Andrew Lichtenstein / Contributeur
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It is not yet known what the specific requests of the workers are within the defamation case.

A spokesman for Starbucks, via a statement, has said that it was reviewing the lawsuit and denied any wrongdoing.

‘No Starbucks partner has been or will be disciplined for supporting or engaging in lawful union activity — but interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies and procedures that apply to all partners,’

Over the past year, over 240 Starbucks stores have unionised in the US, while a dozen of locationshave been accused of illegal labor practices, Reuters reports.

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Sources used:

-Reuters: ‘Starbucks sued for accusing unionized workers of assault, kidnapping’

-Bloomberg: ‘Starbucks Is Sued by Pro-Union Staff for Defamation, Abusing Legal Process’

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