Starbucks To Close Both Remaining Ithaca Locations

[TTL News 307]

Quote

 

Employees have been told they’ll need to discuss the possibility of severance pay with union representatives. When the Collegetown location closed a year ago, employees were not offered severance, as they had the option to work for another nearby location.

The action, which amounts to a mass layoff of unionized employees, won’t affect cafes inside the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Ithaca‘s southwest or Target at the Shops at Ithaca Mall, as each is a branded cafe operated not by Starbucks but by the stores.

The location Starbucks is closing in Threshold Plaza is barely a year old, and is the only Starbucks drive-through location in Ithaca.

Employees have been told they’ll need to discuss the possibility of severance pay with union representatives. When the Collegetown location closed a year ago, employees were not offered severance, as they had the option to work for another nearby location.

 

Read the rest here.

[MsKreed 1,172]

I fully support the right of employees in private industry to unionize (public unions are a whole different dynamic that often feeds corruption that taxpayers are victims of).

But I also think there’s a risk of the unions themselves exploiting private sector employees’ lack of understanding of what unionization means.

 

I don’t believe most workers are fully aware that “Unions” themselves are businesses that are making money through union dues to provide wages and benefits for their own staff and management hierarchy. Their primary goal is to recruit & retain members who will surrender a chunk of their wages to the Union.

That requires two elements:

1)      that the workers believe they will benefit from the Union’s ‘services’ and

2)      that the workers accept terms that don’t create untenable hardships for employers’ bottom line

 

When a Union "sells themselves" too successfully (point #1), workers' expectations can be so high that they screw up point #2 

Edited May 8, 2023 by MsKreed

[KarenK 382]

That's a shame.  I don't do Ithaca so no idea what any retail type establishments are like up there but if that drive through up there has even 1/2 the line the one in Consumer Sq does at any given time I will call BS on lack of profit.

Almost seems like they are cutting off their nose to spite their face or they will wait a certain amount of time and reopen it with new non-union employees since the union will effectively dissolved I believe.

Edited May 8, 2023 by KarenK

[MsKreed 1,172]

I agree that the consumer demand has to be at least as big in Ithaca as Horseheads, if not more.

On the other hand......I listen to the Ithaca radio station and regularly catch their local news.  It seems like the Ithaca locations have barely been unionized a year and have already been on strike at least three times.  With various reasons: a grease trap that employees demanded needed repair; dissatisfaction with available/desirable shifts; and “solidarity” with union concerns about shops in other cities.

A lot of customers in a hurry will quickly find alternatives with less drama and/or uncertainty whether a strike will prevent or delay getting their caffeine fix.

So, if frequent strikes have been adversely affecting business at every store on a regular basis, it could make sense that the stores have had “operational and financial reasons” that corporate cited.  

[KarenK 382]

2 hours ago, MsKreed said:

I agree that the consumer demand has to be at least as big in Ithaca as Horseheads, if not more.

On the other hand......I listen to the Ithaca radio station and regularly catch their local news.  It seems like the Ithaca locations have barely been unionized a year and have already been on strike at least three times.  With various reasons: a grease trap that employees demanded needed repair; dissatisfaction with available/desirable shifts; and “solidarity” with union concerns about shops in other cities.

A lot of customers in a hurry will quickly find alternatives with less drama and/or uncertainty whether a strike will prevent or delay getting their caffeine fix.

So, if frequent strikes have been adversely affecting business at every store on a regular basis, it could make sense that the stores have had “operational and financial reasons” that corporate cited.  

Oh yea, I would agree with that.  I wasn't aware of the striking.  In that case, I really don't blame Starbucks for pulling out.

 

[MsKreed 1,172]

1 hour ago, KarenK said:

Oh yea, I would agree with that.  I wasn't aware of the striking.  In that case, I really don't blame Starbucks for pulling out.

I know it’s a broad generalization......but my gut impression (from peripherally following the news) is that it’s quite likely that a good portion of the unionized Ithaca baristas are spoiled millennials with inflated sense of self-importance from growing up in the participation trophy generation.

Add in high-pressure sales tactics from the Union and many may have developed misguided perceptions of “union power”. Then have unrealistic expectations that, once unionized, they’d suddenly get a Utopian dream of more money for less work and zero job stress.

And be empowered to assume they can demand whatever they want by threatening to strike at every trivial complaint....and cry and accuse Starbuck’s of being “anti-union” when their tantrum gets results that they didn’t expect.

Edited May 8, 2023 by MsKreed

[KarenK 382]

Just saw this on WENY page

 

900 partner absences in 8 months at 2 locations?  That's ridiculous if it's accurate.

[Chris 2,155]

Unions have their role, and have certainly been a benefit to the working American. However they serve nothing more than to keep shitty employees from losing their job.

[MsKreed 1,172]

3 hours ago, Chris said:

Unions have their role, and have certainly been a benefit to the working American.

I agree. If we give them credit for supporting policies that have since been codified in law (**OT, child labor, fair wages, OSHA, etc), they had their place in history.

But those purposes had been mostly "finished" by the time guys like Jimmy Hoffa figured out how lucrative it could be for those that were running the Unions (by collecting dues from every paycheck they could).....then the whole purpose became convincing more workers from more industries to unionize (and keeping even the worst of them employed). 

 

Now that their purpose is self-perpetuation, they need to walk the fine line that any parasite's survival depends on: feed as much as possible...... without killing the host.

Like the Starbucks locations in Ithaca closing because of that concept (unionization forcing management to deal with chronic absenteeism among union staff).

 

 

 

 

**I will dispute the common union talking point that these things only exist because of unions. That's false, or exaggerated at best. The UAW was formed in 1935, Ford Motors unionized in 1941. Ford had established 40 hr work weeks for $5 back in 1926.

Edited May 9, 2023 by MsKreed