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A Starbucks employee has revealed they turned up for their first day of work to find staff on strike... and joined them.
As reported by Newsweek, TikTok user @mikeys_titanic arrived at one of the coffee shop giant’s branches in Buffalo, New York, to find baristas striking outside the entrance.
Newsweek reported that the staff were staging the strike in response to a “lack of appreciation for our hard work and continued unfair labor practices from the local to the national level."
Issues such as understaffing and employee hours being cut were also alleged.
Mikey uploaded footage of the walk-out on her TikTok account, with the caption: “Just got hired at Starbucks... arrived and the workers are on strike outside the entrance."
In a follow-up video, Mikey announced that she had joined the staff in their protest, while wearing a union t-shirt.
Newsweek reported that Starbucks is “currently being prosecuted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Buffalo, with allegations of 29 unfair labor practice charges, including over 200 violations of the National Labor Relations Act. The complaint details allegations that Starbucks interfered with, restrained or coerced employees who were seeking to unionize.”
Starbucks had not responded to the publication’s request for comment.
A similar incident unfolded earlier this year in the UK, when a university lecturer went on strike on her very first day on the job.
Dr Hannah Little joined the University of Liverpool as a lecturer in Communication and Media, starting on Valentine's Day 2022, but before setting foot in a lecture hall, she joined her new colleagues on the picket line.
Dr Little was among thousands of academic staff across the country who began up to 10 days of strike action, led by the UCU (the University and College Union), in protest against university leaders who they claimed had “failed staff and students” in a row over pay.
Dr Little, who’s also a comedian and sci-fi linguist, had announced her intention of striking on social media after resigning from her previous job at the University of West of England, stating: "I am striking in UCU's national four fights dispute over pay, casualisation, equality and workload when I start at Liverpool".
However, she admitted striking on her very first day was “awkward”.
She Tweeted: "Today I am meant to be starting my new job at the University of Liverpool, but instead I am on strike. Which feels a bit awkward tbh."
However, she added: “I'm taking comfort knowing this isn't my most awkward valentines [SIC] day, and also that it's the right thing to do.”
