‘Management said to continue working’: Starbucks workers walk out after busted mobile ordering system causes chaos
Starbucks workers in New York went on strike earlier this week after they said management asked them to continue working while their online ordering system was broken and losing orders, according to a video from the Starbucks Workers United union.
“Starbucks workers in Massapequa, [Long Island] walked out on strike yesterday due to an understaffed shift and a broken mobile order system that lost customer orders,” the text on the video said. “Instead of turning off mobile ordering, management said to continue working anyways - workers said no!”
Workers in the video can be seen holding signs in front of the store as passerby honk in support.
The video was posted on Monday and has almost 18,000 likes and nearly 180,000 views. In a statement to the Daily Dot, the company said it encourages the union to “live up to their obligations by responding to our proposed sessions and meeting us in-person to move the good faith bargaining process forward” instead of “publicizing rallies and protests.”
The union did not respond to a request for comment, but users in the comments were quick to side with the workers in the video, and some Starbucks employees shared difficult experiences they also had this week.
“The mobile order issue was company wide..the company wouldn’t allow anyone to turn off mobiles,” one user wrote.
“They haven’t yet explained to us why this happened and swept it under the rug and gave us all the pressure,” another said.
“My store’s credit card system broke at the same time that the mobile ordering was down,” another user wrote.
But as Starbucks' woes increase, a union drive keeps picking up steam.
On Wednesday, a Starbucks in Iowa became the latest store to vote to unionize, marking at least the 293rd location to vote to unionize since 2021.
But the union is still without a contract and claims that Starbucks is refusing to negotiate in good faith for things like a $20 per hour starting wage nationwide and a 32-hour workweek guarantee for full-time employees.
Starbucks has said it wants to bargain in person and is refusing to negotiate remotely, something the union has pushed for.
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