NYC Union Barista Fired on a Friday, Unfired on a Monday

"If the workers are organized, all they have to do is to put their hands in their pockets and they have got the capitalist class whipped."
- "Big Bill" Haywood

NYC Union Barista Fired on a Friday, Unfired on a Monday
By FW double jeff

SWU barista Sheanel Simon went public with her Starbucks Workers Union affiliation on Thursday January 29th, was fired on Friday January 30th and was rehired Monday February 2nd.

Sheanel Simon, an African-American single mother of two who is very well liked by her fellow workers but singled out by the largely white management at the Union Square East Starbucks in New York City was fired the day after declaring her union affiliation with the SWU.

Store Manager Gwen Krueger and Starbucks District Manager Mark Ormsbee had Ms. Simon brew a french press of coffee that they could leisurely enjoy while firing her, unintentionally illuminating everything that is wrong with capitalism. In that single moment where two white managers have the black single mom make a french press for them before they fire her in the middle of an economic crisis, Krueger and Ormsbee seem to be proving everything we know to be true about bosses: they are lazy and parasitic, and incapable of making their own coffee.

The official reason given for Simon's termination was failure to follow the dress code because she had a tongue piercing, which violates the archaic "no visible piercings" rule. It is clear that the firing of Sheanel Simon had nothing to do with enforcing the rigid dress code. Simon had her tongue pierced the entire year and a half she worked for Starbucks with no formal reprimand. It was only the day after she went public with her union affiliation that her tongue piercing became a fireable offense. Starbucks has a history of using previously unenforced policies as part of their union-busting efforts. The same day, union barista Cezar Ramirez was sent home early for having a tongue piercing.

Simon joined the union to fight for dignity and respect in the workplace. "I will not be treated like a child, I have two children of my own." said Ms. Simon in reference to how she has been treated at Starbucks.

Over the next few days Starbucks stepped up its use of both subtle and not so subtle intimidation tactics used against SWU baristas at Union Square East. These tactics included, but were not limited to, District Managers coming into the store from other districts, staring at union baristas through their whole shifts, hovering over them while they worked the bar, repositioning the store cameras, interrogating both union and non-union baristas and illegally soliciting grievances to undermine the union drive.

Immediately following the firing of Sheanel Simon, SWU baristas Liberte Locke and Cezar Ramirez were subjected to interrogations by the Store Manager Gwen Krueger, District Managers Tracy Bryant and Mark Ormsbee and Regional Manager Nicole Mozeliak. During these illegal and unethical interrogations they were told, among other things, that they would never win. Ms. Locke was denied a lawyer present and union representation when she was called into the back to be written up for the first time in the two and a half years she worked at Starbucks. When asked why she was so scared that she needed a "third party" involved, she made the observation that the fact that they were denying her a witness showed that they are far more scared of us than we are of them. Both Locke and Ramirez stood their ground while enduring an entire weekend of interrogations and other intimidation tactics.

NYC Wobblies verbally confronted Gwen Krueger in the store just hours after Sheanel Simon was fired. In an act of solidarity, SWU members at the Twin Cities store in the Mall of America engaged in workplace direct action the night Simon was fired. The union baristas engaged in periodic work stoppages where they announced loudly to customers that they were protesting the firings of two union baristas, Sheanel Simon in New York and Neal Linder in the Twin Cities.

On Monday, February 2nd Simon was contacted at home by Krueger and was told they had reconsidered firing her and that she could come back to work as long as she bought a clear retainer for her tongue piercing. Simon returned to work at Union Square East at 8:00 AM on Thursday, February 5th. Greeted with hugs and laughter by her coworkers (and some frowning managers), Simon proudly began her shift with her IWW pin firmly affixed to her Starbucks hat. When Ms. Locke informed Regional Manager Nicole Mozeliak that they would win Simon's job back Mozeliak responded with a grin, "No, no you won't." As Wobblies we stood in solidarity and said, "Yes, yes we will." And we did.

The fight for the reinstatement of union barista Neal Linder continues.

For more information on the Starbucks Workers campaign go to starbucksunion.org