Erb Memorial Union Starbucks employees walked out and protested outside of the EMU following the firing of an employee on Thursday.
The employee who was fired, who asked to be referred to only by her first name —Alice, said managers told her she was being fired for her use of profanity in a conversation with a manager about a month and a half ago.
Alice disputes that she ever used profane language and said she was unaware that a manager wrote her up for profanity.
Alice said she wishes she had been informed earlier that she would be fired so that she could look for another job.
“I don’t know how I’m going to be able to pay my rent,” Alice said.
Kaylee Calvert, an employee at the EMU Starbucks, said Alice was pulled out around 11 a.m., a rush time for the store, and was brought to a table right in front of the store. She was fired in sight of all of the other employees.
Alice said she felt embarrassed and did not understand why it was happening then and not at the end of her shift.
“I’ve worked for this company for seven years,” she said. “I was devastated.”
Sevey said the employees asked the manager to have Alice reinstated.
Management did not agree to reinstate Alice. Thirty minutes later, employees clocked out, gave the keys to the managers and began protesting. After the employees walked out, the mobile orders were unfulfilled for around an hour until the online ordering was shut down.
“We have a lot of support from the community. There’s a lot of people here who aren’t employees but just had signs in the back of their cars,” Sevey said.
Thomas Finley, the district manager responsible for the EMU Starbucks, did not respond to comment in time for this article’s publication.
