“Without a single doubt, I think that Starbucks fired me in retaliation for being a union leader, and being outspoken about making sure that my store is a safe, respectful and professional workplace.”
For more than a dozen years, Sam Amato served his customers and chatted with them every day. He saw their kids grow up. Some of his best friends are Starbucks customers and coworkers.“Just being in the store every day, and seeing these people, and talking to them, and making their drinks,” he says. “It was really an honor to do that.”
Almost immediately after he was fired, Amato’s fellow partners walked out of the store and went on strike. The store — located in Tonawanda, New York, just outside Buffalo’s city lines — remained shut down for over a week.of the walkout on the afternoon of August 5 has over 25 million views. First, the corporate offices flooded the store with extra managers in the early stages of the union drive. By one worker’s account, 10 store managers and six district managers came through their location over the course of several months, along with a host of corporate employees.
Fed up, workers went on a one-day Unfair Labor Practices strike in early July. The day before the strike, the union filed a charge with the Amato called the union’s lawyer, who came to the store, along with several other Starbucks workers. A “Because it was Sam who was getting terminated, we knew he genuinely didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “There was no other solution that I could think of to help besides us going on strike.”
“I had a moment to talk to her, and say my goodbyes,” he said, choking up. “And it was just really touching. I’ll miss all of those people.” Callicutt says the strike is important because Starbucks “need[s] to know that we’re willing to stand up for our rights.” Meanwhile, Starbucks workers nationwide have engaged in over three dozen strikes during the past month, according to theAfter more than a week, the partners from the Sheridan and Bailey store remain on strike — though as of Monday, August 15, they had moved their picket back to the actual Sheridan and Bailey store location, which they say was scheduled to reopen that day. The Sheridan and Bailey location currently remains closed while the Tonawanda location has since reopened.
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