The barista who fought Starbucks

Lexie Rizzo took on Starbucks. Now she’s out of a job. Today, a look at the U.S. labor laws that are supposed to protect workers who are organizing unions.

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People describe Lexi Rizzo as a “coffee person.” She loves drinking coffee, talking about coffee. And she loved her job at Starbucks. She worked there for nearly eight years, until she got fired in March.

Rizzo believes she was fired for being a union organizer. Rizzo joined the unionization efforts in 2021, when her Starbucks became one of the first three stores in the country to successfully unionize. 

In the past year, judges have ruled that Starbucks violated U.S. labor laws more than 130 times across six states, among the most of any private employer nationwide. The rulings found that Starbucks retaliated against union supporters by surveilling them at work, firing them and promising them improved pay and benefits if they rejected the organizing campaign. Starbucks founder and ex-CEO Howard Schulz has denied any wrongdoing – and remains confident that his company does not need a union for his employees to be happy. 

Greg Jaffe reports on Rizzo’s case and examines the U.S. labor laws that are supposed to protect workers who are organizing unions.