ITHACA, N.Y. — A National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge ruled that two Ithaca Starbucks stores were improperly shut down last year and ordered the company to reopen them.
Administrative Law Judge Geoffrey Carter ruled that Starbucks closed the locations, near the Commons and on Meadow Street, in May 2023 in response to unionization efforts at both stores and did not negotiate with the union representing workers before making the decision. The decision comes a year after a similar judgment that Starbucks improperly closed its College Avenue location in Ithaca, where the union effort originated, in which the company was also ordered to reopen that location.
Since the three closures, Starbucks has not operated a freestanding location in Ithaca.
“I have considered the evidence and arguments that [Starbucks] has presented to show that it closed the Commons and Meadow stores for legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons and I do not find them to be persuasive,” Carter wrote in his decision. “I find that [Starbucks] closed the Commons and Meadow stores for antiunion reasons.”
Carter’s decision states he found enough evidence to support that the closures were an attempt to disrupt unionizing activity in the Ithaca stores, but also to “have a chilling effect on unionism” in the company beyond Ithaca. At the time, a movement was growing nationwide to unionize Starbucks locations.
Carter further ordered all employees who lost jobs as a result of the closures should be offered their jobs back, or equivalent positions, and that they should be “made whole” regarding back pay, loss of benefits, and more.
Carter’s ruling may not have an immediate effect — the store’s former locations, some of which have been filled by new businesses, will not imminently reopen following the decision. Starbucks could file exceptions, or appeals, as the company did with the College Avenue decision, which will delay the proceedings until the NLRB reviews the judge’s decision. The case could go on to higher courts as well, depending on the board’s review and subsequent appeals.
In a statement to The Ithaca Voice, a Starbucks official did not confirm if the company intends to appeal Carter’s decision or to reopen the Commons and Meadow locations.
“We are reviewing the administrative law judge’s decision regarding actions at two stores in Ithaca, New York,” said Starbucks spokesperson Jay Go Grusch. “Our focus continues to be on training and supporting our managers to ensure respect of our partners’ rights to organize and on progressing negotiations towards ratified store contracts this year.”
Former Starbucks barista Evan Sunshine, a prominent figure in the local and national unionization effort, said there has been no update to the College Avenue case since both Starbucks and the union filed their exceptions nearly a year ago. Sunshine was fired from the Collegetown location — a termination that was found unlawful in the previous NLRB case. He now works for a Starbucks on Long Island.
“Getting the decision was very empowering,” Sunshine said. “I was overwhelmed with emotion, we got everything we wanted. But at this point, I couldn’t fully celebrate, because I knew we wouldn’t actually win until those storefronts are reopened, so that’s the endgame.”
Carter’s ruling contradicts several arguments Starbucks officials have made to justify the store closures in Ithaca. He cited internal Starbucks communications to show that regional leadership proposed closing the stores on the basis of high staff turnover, declining revenue and store management instability — rationales that were eventually accepted by an internal Starbucks committee. Carter found that the committee was not made aware of the labor implications of closing the stores before making its decision.
On these points, though, Carter wrote that the problems Starbucks used to justify shutting the stores down were caused, in part, by Starbucks’ own conduct during the unionization process.
“The problem areas arose at least in part from [Starbucks’] unlawful practices in response to union activity,” Carter said.
Carter attributed some of the staffing problems and declining revenue at the Commons and Meadow locations to Starbucks’ termination of pro-union employees, as well as to reduced hours that accompanied the staffing struggles and decreased revenue opportunities.
Carter also notes that the Meadow location opened in January 2022, meaning it was only open for 16 months before Starbucks closed it and its other Ithaca locations. Both the Meadow and Commons locations were meeting the “healthy” revenue standard set by the company before the unionization effort began, Carter wrote.
Starbucks’ internal communications showed that business at its stores in Ithaca were doing well enough that by 2021 the company planned to expand its presence in the city, according to the NLRB decision. Starbucks deemed it an “underdeveloped” area and eyed an additional Starbucks location — even two. Carter reasoned that if the company had previously planned for more stores in the area, ordering them to reopen the closed locations would not represent an undue burden on the company.
While the two NLRB cases continue, sources familiar with the matter confirmed that the union and Starbucks have engaged in negotiations over the last several months to settle the two cases surrounding the Ithaca closures out of court. Sunshine said he has not been directly involved in the negotiations but has heard they are going well and is optimistic about their results.
“I made a commitment, over two years ago now, to see the day that we get a contract for stores across the country and I wanted to follow through on that commitment,” Sunshine said. “I want to see the day that workers can celebrate the wage that they make and truly enjoy the benefits that Starbucks gives them.”