(DEPEW, NEW YORK) – Starbucks Partners picketed outside a Starbucks location in Suburban Buffalo on Saturday (April 2nd) to protest the company’s firing of a Co-Worker, who happens to be one of the leaders who started the Unionizing effort here in Western New York that has spread across the U.S. to nearly 200 stores.

The Union - Starbucks Workers United said that Starbucks fired Angel Krempa on April 1st. 

Krempa helped lead the Union Campaign at the Depew store and is one of the leaders who started the campaign across Buffalo’s stores.

In a statement, the Union said: Starbucks has bullied, retaliated against and fired Union Leaders in an attempt to stop our organizing efforts.  Starbucks claims they fired Angel because of two days were she was late to the store, but Starbucks policy only requires that Angel call the store ahead of time to notify her team she would be late, which she did.  She has the call logs and the files to prove it.  The real reason Starbucks fired Angel is the same reason she has been targeted for months, because she is a Union Leader who is unafraid to stand up to the company.  We must hold Starbucks accountable in the court of law and in the court of public opinion.  We are calling for a boycott of the Depew Starbucks location on April 2nd and demanding Starbucks end their war against Partners across the country.  This is an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) picket demanding Krempa be reinstated with back pay at the Depew store.

On the picket line Saturday, Krempa told Buffalo TV Station WGRZ: "I think the reason why they actually terminated me was because of how loud and proud of a Union Organizer I've been.  I recently won my Union Election at the store within the last few weeks, so we are a certified Union.  The only reason they had the chance to fire me was because we don't have the contract that says 'just cause' in it, because they refused to answer my e-mail to start to bargain."

Employees at three more Starbucks stores in suburban Buffalo voted in March to form Unions, bringing the number of Unionized Starbucks shops to six and further advancing organizing efforts underway in at least two dozen states, at that time.

Starbucks’ flagship store in New York City, a “Reserve Roastery” located in Chelsea, just voted to Unionize, making it the first Starbucks in New York City to do so and the tenth store nationwide.

Starbucks Workers Union says nearly 200 stores across the Nation have filed Union Petitions.

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Photos that appear with this Labor News Report are courtesy of Derek Seidman via the Social Network Facebook.