The unionized San Antonio Starbucks stores used their joint social media account to publicly declare that the union “stands with Palestine” this month following the firing of a coworker and union organizer in December over political speech they made about the war in Gaza at their store in November.
The statement said the workers “stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination” and condemned “the genocide of Palestinian people at the hands of US imperialism and the Israeli apartheid state.”
Both the U.S. and Israel have forcefully denied accusations of genocide. The United Nations International Court of Justice released a preliminary ruling on Friday that stopped short of demanding an immediate ceasefire, but which ordered Israel to ensure its forces not commit any acts that violate the Genocide Convention and let in more aid. The ruling said it was “plausible” that Israel was in violation of the Genocide Convention.
Union organizer Seiya Wayment said they and other coworkers felt it was important to signal their solidarity with Palestinians, especially as the war in Gaza continues to drag on and they feel U.S. leadership has failed.
“It’s a very familiar feeling to see that the person who would have the power to do something not listen to the majority of people asking them to do something,” Wayment said.
Dominique Renteria was fired by Starbucks on Dec. 17, a month after they led an in-store worker action on Nov. 17. They worked at the same downtown Starbucks as Wayment.
“I call everyone’s attention and I hold up a Palestinian flag, and I start talking about how there’s a genocide going on and that, speaking to the customers, to take time out of the day to think about what’s happening in Palestine and that your tax dollars are being used to fund a genocide,” Renteria said. “We stopped working for about a minute, we did a few chants, and then I put the flag away and we got back to work.”
— SATX SBWorkersUnited (@SATXSBWU) January 20, 2024
Renteria said their store manager told them and their coworkers that what they did was wrong and that the issue wouldn’t be dropped. A month later, Renteria came to her opening shift and was told they would be separated from the company.
“I see my district manager comes in through the door, and immediately I know what’s happening,” Renteria said. “I know what’s going on. I kind of felt scared, kinda got a little panicky. And then I kinda just sat there.”
Wayment said Renteria’s firing was hard on everyone at the store, and not just because they were good friends.
“It’s been not great to work at the store afterwards,” they said. “Dom was one of the supervisors — Dom’s a very good, hard worker — they really keep the store together.”
Now that Renteria is gone, the store has been more difficult to work at for everyone else.
Starbucks spokesperson Andrew Trull said workers have a right to free speech, but that they are not allowed to engage in political protest activities “while on-the-clock and while working behind the bar.”
Trull said Renteria was separated over the Standards of Business Conduct violation, unlike other workers who participated, because they had a prior history.
“They were issued prior progressive corrective actions — including multiple documented coaching conversations, a written warning and final written warning — for repeated time and attendance issues and violation of our store safety and security policies,” he said in a statement.
Renteria said one of those violations was when their store manager called the police on them and a coworker for being out of dress code after they refused to leave the store. They wore a shirt they had worn before without problem, a change in the application of company policy that may have constituted a violation of labor law.
But because political speech is not protected under labor law, the union has not filed an unfair labor practice against the company over Renteria’s firing, as they have done with many other union organizers the company has fired.
“Legally, the Palestinian struggle can’t really be tied to our labor struggle on paper, and considering the tension right now with Starbucks Workers United and the Starbucks company and the lawsuit that they have, they saw it best to not file a ULP,” Renteria said.
The union and the company are engaged in dueling lawsuits after Starbucks Workers United made statements in support of Palestinians in the weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and during the beginning of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The company argued that the post hurt business and damaged the company’s reputation because the union includes “Starbucks” in its name and uses a logo that looks similar to the company’s.
Wayment said the company’s position on political speech was hypocritical.
“As someone who’s worked at Starbucks a long time, I’ve been asked to make political speech by Starbucks before,” they said. “They’ve had campaigns where they’ve specifically asked baristas to talk about, like, race issues. So I think it’s a little disingenuous for them to say that you have no place to speak about something that’s important to you on the floor, because they kind of encourage that as long as it’s within the box that they kind of want.”
Renteria said they don’t have any regrets about what they did.
“I wouldn’t have expected my separation from Starbucks to be any different. I wouldn’t want it to be any different. I saw my presence there as a disturbance, and that’s what I did, and I’m proud of that.”
They said they’re now looking for another job, attempting to apply for unemployment insurance, and seeking support through a GoFundMe to cover short-term expenses.
