Starbucks launches aggressive anti-union effort as upstate New York stores organize

Management urges baristas to reject the union at mandatory listening' sessions and shuts stores holding drives

Will Westlake, a Starbucks barista in Hamburg, New York, whose store recently filed for a union election, was told by a manager he could attend an earlier mandatory anti-union meeting on 8 November because he was scheduled to work early the next day.

The meeting was in a nearby hotel and when Westlake arrived he found out he was the only worker in attendance, with six members of Starbucks management. The meeting lasted for about one hour.