It appears that Starbucks is cutting the daily work hours of their employees to an all-time low. The company certainly is hiring new ones, but unfortunately redistributing reduced shifts to everyone does not allow them to afford living in New York. Starbucks continues to disregard employee rights that this City so prides itself on defending.
According to a report by The New York Times, several Starbucks baristas started filing complaints arguing that they do not have regular schedules, their work hours were cut with no clear explanation, and the company did not provide open shifts when asked, but hired new workers instead.
Witnesses said that they saw their shifts fall from 31 hours a week to just 24, to even less sometimes, 10 hours on average with an hourly wage of $16.95.
This is how the vicious cycle starts: moving farther away from the workplace, and farther out of the City to find modest apartments; the fewer the weekly work hours, the lower the chances of affording a rent. Then follows couch crashing from sofa to sofa at friends’ houses, in the worst cases leading to homelessness.
In less than a year, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, that “protects and enhances the daily economic lives of New Yorkers to create thriving communities”, received 76 complaints filed by employees at 56 Starbucks branches–out of an estimated 300 sites in New York– alleging repeated violations of the Fair Workweek Law. This measure was provided only by the City, and a few more in the US, to fill a gap left by federal legislation on the rights for fast-food workers, granting them predictable schedules and extra hours when requested and preventing unjustified cuts exceeding 15%. In 2023, Starbucks’ income increased 26% to over 4 billion dollars, questioning the legitimacy of the latest shift reductions.
Even Mayor Eric Adams tried to intervene to patch up the situation. Last December, he invited several Starbucks workers at City Hall to discuss the company’s latest approach and support employees’ requests. He wrote in a post on X, “I don’t have to tell you that Starbucks workers get our city moving every morning. Their city stands with them in their push for fair conditions and workers’ rights”.
I don’t have to tell you that Starbucks workers get our city moving every morning. Their city stands with them in their push for fair conditions and workers’ rights. pic.twitter.com/EoHCDhD8Tl
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) December 8, 2023
A spokesperson from Starbucks, Andrew Trull, replied to The New York Times claiming that the company takes employee requests very seriously. “We make every effort and have invested significant resources to ensure partner scheduling practices are in alignment with New York City’s Fair Workweek and Just Cause ordinances,” they quoted. But from th eemployees’ perspective, Starbucks does not seem to be doing so.
