Anna Del Savio at The Northwest Labor Press reports Starbucks fired three Portland-area Baristas last month. Their crime? Writing on the sidewalk outside their store. Aspen Maxwell and Hannah Zimmerman used chalk to draw “Workers Deserve A Fair Contract,” “Union Strong” and other slogans outside their Hillsboro Starbucks in mid-August, the day before a Regional Director was to visit the store. “We went - after hours, off the clock, to write these messages, knowing that (the manager) would be showing up the next day,” Maxwell told The Northwest Labor Press. After Garcia’s visit, cleaners came to remove the chalk writing from the ground of the seating area and parking lot outside the coffee shop, which is located in a shopping center. Maxwell said the work order for the cleaners described it as removing “vulgar vandalism,” but the writing didn’t contain anything remotely obscene. “It was intentionally really, really tame,” Maxwell said. “We wanted (the manager) to know that we’re ready for a contract and that we’re a proud Union store. We’re not trying to be totally outrageous, we’re just ready for what’s due to us and that’s our contract.” Later in August, managers notified Maxwell, Zimmerman and Ryan Shepherd, a Barista at a different Unionized location, that they were under investigation and conducted individual interviews with the three Workers. All three were fired in early September for what management called “egregious misconduct.” Their firings came as a shock, Zimmerman said, because Workers have repeatedly drawn chalk messages outside stores during past Strikes and pickets.

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Photo Courtesy Of The Starbucks Workers Union Via The Northwest Labor Press.