WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Phoenix Cerny (on the left) and Cory Johnson (on the right) have something in common that both involve the SPoT Coffee Chain.  Johnson was involved in the successful Union Organizing Drive at SPoT Coffee in Rochester, while Cerny was allegedly fired from his job at SPoT Coffee in Buffalo for being part of the effort to Unionize Workers here.  Workers United, which assisted 16 SPoT Workers in Rochester to successfully organize and is assisting SPoT Workers here in Buffalo in their attempt to do the same, is helping the impacted Buffalo Workers spread public word of how SPoT Management is treating their Employees.  (WNYLaborToday.com Photos)

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – Phoenix Cerny and Cory Johnson have something in common that both involve the SPoT Coffee chain and that company’s Employees, who are attempting to Unionize in Buffalo after watching their counterparts in Rochester do the same. 

But while the 26-year-old Johnson continues to do his job in Rochester as a full-fledged Union Member, the 25-year-old Cerny is out of a job, alleging he was fired from because of his personal actions to lead a Union Organizing campaign here in Buffalo.

When WNYLaborToday.com asked why SPoT Coffee Management would stand back and allow its Rochester Workers to Unionize, but not allow their Employees in Buffalo to do the same – here’s what they had to say (Read WNYLaborToday.com’s July 2nd Labor News Report, Headlined: Rally Behind Three Fired Buffalo SPoT Coffee Workers Involved In Organizing Drive After Looking To Follow In The Footsteps Of Their Rochester Counterparts Who Successfully Unionized Earlier This Month).

“Maybe (management) ‘didn’t know’ (about its Rochester Workers interest in Unionizing),” Johnson (pictured below) replied. “Maybe ‘they though (the Rochester Workers) were keeping it a secret.’  ‘By the time it filtered (up to management), we had a (Union Election) on the same day, which avoided any pushback.’  Maybe (management’s) ‘thinking they could nip in the bud here’ (before it grew to a point that a Union Election would be held in Buffalo).”

After its 16 Rochester Employees Unionized, Anton Ayoub - the President and CEO of Valshire SPoT Incorporated, issued the following statement: “Our Employees are an integral part of everything we do.  We care highly about them.  We respect their decision to join a Union and we hope to conclude a contract with the Union that is not only beneficial to our Employees and the Company, but one that also enhances our mission to serve the community.”

However, Ayoub’s stance on his Rochester Workers Unionizing was quite different than how company representatives apparently feel about their Buffalo Workers doing the same.

Cerny told Your On-Line Labor Newspaper that he first learned of SPoT Coffee Workers in Rochester Going Union while on-line. 

“I had friends in Rochester (who worked at SPoT) and ‘I though what they were doing was cool.’  (His fellow SPoT Coffee Workers in Buffalo) ‘wanted to learn more’ and we had some of the (Rochester) Workers come to Buffalo for a formal meeting in early June.  Workers United (who has assisted SPoT Coffee Workers in Rochester in their Unionization Drive) ‘told us how a Union worked and afterward, we had a positive meeting with management,’” Cerny (pictured below) said.

But that’s where everything changed for Cerny, as well as two other SPoT Co-Workers.

“The COO (Chief Operating Officer) ‘asked for a list of names who attended (the Unionization) meetings.’  When we told them ‘no,’ ‘they started firing (the three of) us.’  It ‘shocked’ us,” he said.  “I was told ‘I was being let go’ - a manager ‘told me he was told to let me go, even though (SPoT) didn’t have a problem with me.’  ‘There was no specific reason.’  ‘I’d heard of (Workers in other industries) fired for trying to Unionize, but I was shocked,’” he said.

Workers United for Upstate New York Manager Gary Bonadonna, Jr. minced no words when asked about the situation by WNYLaborToday.com: “They started a war here.”

“We ‘can’t let this stand and we will get (the three Workers) reinstated.’  They have a ‘legal right to organize,’” said Bonadonna, whose Union has already filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in support of having the Buffalo SPoT Workers reinstated, “but ‘what we also want is to ensure a fair (Unionization) process.’  ‘It should be up to the Workers (whether or not they want Union Representation)’.  ‘They should be the ones to decide.’”

The three Workers were fired only two weeks into the Buffalo Union Organizing Campaign, Bonadonna told Your On-Line Labor Newspaper, which has made some SPoT Coffee Workers “very angry” and others “scared to death now” due to the fact management “wanted this ongoing campaign ‘over even before it began.’”

“I ‘really don’t know what the difference is,’” Bonadonna replied to WNYLaborToday.com when asked what was with the Rochester versus Buffalo scenario. 

“Their top people ‘are the same.’  We ‘didn’t experience this in Rochester.’  They ‘did bring in an Anti-Union speaker at the end (in an attempt to dissuade their Employees from Unionizing), but (what’s happened in Buffalo) is the extreme.’  I guess I have ‘my own’ assumptions - ‘maybe they figured Rochester was isolated.’  ‘But all their density is in Buffalo, so maybe they thought they had better kill this thing (Union Organizing Drive),’” he said.

But when you boil everything down to the bottom of the coffee cup, the Non-Union Buffalo SPoT Coffee Employees now want what the Rochester Unionized SPoT Coffee Workers have.

“They are being paid minimum wage ‘and certainly wages are an issue - but they want more of a say in their workplace and a voice.’  They’ve asked us: ‘How do we get a seat at the table?,’” Bonadonna told Your On-Line Labor Newspaper. 

In Buffalo there are “more than one hundred Workers” employed by SPoT Coffee at as many as eight area locations, Workers United Representatives said.

In the meantime, the SPoT Workers, along with Workers United Representatives and Members of the Buffalo Labor Community, have been holding informational leafletting events outside various Buffalo area SPoT Coffee locations in order to make the general public aware of how management is treating their Employees.

The Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation (WNYALF) is also standing behind and supporting the impacted SPoT Coffee Workers and those SPoT Coffee Employees who are still interested in being Union-supported. 

However, the WNYALF is not part of a called-for boycott of SPoT Coffee in Buffalo by some elected officials, WNYALF President Richard Lipsitz says.

Meanwhile, Cerney told WNYLaborToday.com his former Co-Workers at SPoT Coffee in Buffalo “want the same respect from management” that its Rochester Employees have received.

“A Union ‘would be good for all of us,’” said Cerney, who surveyed those in attendance who’d come out to support himself and the other affected SPoT Workers who were fired.  “This is a ‘great show of solidarity.’  ‘Standing up for each other is very powerful.’”

Added Johnson: “This ‘is what I live for.’  Our new Employees in Rochester ‘are enthusiastic that they are now part of a Union.’  ‘The rest of the Restaurant Industry should be organizing too.’  What (SPoT Coffee Management) ‘did was retaliation’ (against those Employees who wished to Unionize).  ‘I’m happy to be part of this battle.’”