9 Dec 1st–Dec 7th, 2022 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | cONTeNTs | feeDBacK | OPiNiON | NeWs | feaTuRe | NighT+Day | culTuRe | film | cafe | music | Starbucks Strike Metro Phoenix Starbucks workers poor cold water on the coffee giant’s Red Cup Day. BY KATYA SCHWENK S tarbucks’s Red Cup Day, where red Starbucks cups are handed out in celebration of the holidays, is a flagship sales event for the coffee behemoth. This year, the company’s employees — in the midst of a nationwide union drive — had other ideas. To protest working conditions and management’s hedging on bargaining with the fledgling union, they launched a daylong strike. In metro Phoenix, which was an early epicenter of the Starbucks union effort, workers from at least two stores — one in Mesa and another in Avondale — joined the picket line, part of an effort that took place at more than 100 stores nationally. Michelle Hejduk has worked at Starbucks for five years. For the past two and a half, she has been employed at the Starbucks location on the corner of Power and Baseline roads in east Mesa. The coffeehouse, tucked in the corner of the busy intersection, was the third Starbucks shop in the country to success- fully vote to unionize. It was the first to do so outside of Buffalo, New York — an effort that helped cement the Starbucks union effort as a national movement. “We were watching what was happening in Buffalo, and we watched the company say that this is a Buffalo issue,” Hejduk recalled. Workers in Mesa realized they could prove that wrong. “Strike while the iron is hot, right? And our iron has never cooled down,” Hejduk said. On November 17, as other Starbucks stores opened their doors for Red Cup Day, the east Mesa location was shuttered after employees, including Hejduk, walked out. “We completely shut it down for the day,” she said. Managers who had arrived in the morning asking whether workers would be coming in were soon posting signs that read “closed” and left. When a reporter visited on the after- noon of the strike, employees were taking a respite from the picket line. Faux red cups — adorned with the logo of Starbucks Workers United, the national Starbucks union — were stacked on a table outside. As customers arrived and found the store closed, workers offered them their red cups instead. Starbucks employees were joined by supporters from other unions and the Phoenix branch of the Democratic Socialists of America. Jakob Membrila, who has worked at the Power and Baseline store for several months, said it was heartening to see how workers “have each other’s backs.” ‘I Gotta Admire that Level of Pettiness’ While the effort to unionize Starbucks has seen some successes, it has faced challenges, too. The corporate giant has tried to quell union efforts, including at locations in the Valley. The company fired Phoenix orga- nizer Laila Dalton after she led a union effort at a Scottsdale store. In May, CEO Howard Schultz announced a slate of new benefits — including wage hikes and allowing customers to tip with a credit card — but only at stores that were not unionized. It was “really infuriating,” Membrila said, though he added, “I gotta admire that level of pettiness.” Hejduk and Membrila said that with fewer tips and lower wages, working conditions were already subpar at the store. But management also slashed the hours that were available to work, they said, making it difficult for workers to qualify for certain benefits, such as Starbucks’ tuition coverage program with ASU. A Starbucks spokesperson said the corp- oration was committed to “make Starbucks a company that works for everyone.” “We respect their right to engage in lawful protest activity — though our focus has been, and continues to be, on uplifting the Starbucks experience for our partners and customers,” Andrew Trull wrote in a statement to New Times. Hejduk said the meager benefits are one reason she believed the organizing effort can improve conditions at Starbucks. She was a key leader in organizing the Power and Baseline store ahead of the union vote in February and has been deeply involved with the bargaining process as Starbucks Workers United attempts to negotiate a contract for union members. More than 250 stores are now represented by Workers United, according to the union. It has been a difficult process. Starbucks workers and union leaders, including Hejduk, have reported that attorneys for Starbucks spend hours focused on minu- tiae, leave before actual bargaining begins, or simply refuse to attend bargaining sessions at all. Starbucks denied those claims. “Counter to what the union has shared, Starbucks has continued to engage Workers United representatives in a good faith effort to move the bargaining process forward,” Trull wrote. The company has plans to attend dozens of bargaining sessions in the coming weeks, he added. Hejduk rejected the idea that Starbucks was trying to bargain in good faith. “[Starbucks] is really refusing to bargain,” she said. “They’re doing whatever they need to do to squash this campaign.” It hasn’t been able to yet. | NEWS | Katya Schwenk Michelle Hejduk, who helped unionize a Mesa Starbucks store, displays the union’s version of a Starbucks red cup during a strike on November 17. Botch Job A Phoenix cop admitted to driving drunk. But he never faced criminal charges. BY KATYA SCHWENK O n a summer evening in 2021, off-duty Phoenix police officer Jason Halleman was slumped over the steering wheel of his running car. In his hand was an open bottle of alcohol. A Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office deputy found Halleman in the driver’s seat and roused him. The deputy was responding to a call about the car, which was stopped on a residential street. Halleman’s eyes were bloodshot, and his speech was slurred, according to an investi- gative case file. He was arrested and booked for driving under the influence. During the booking process, Halleman fought with deputies, who forced him to the ground and handcuffed him. Yet Halleman never faced criminal charges for his arrest on July 3, 2021. Not for the DUI, and not for fighting with sheriff’s deputies. In fact, he can’t be charged — the one-year statute of limitations expired for his case. Halleman remains a patrol officer with the Phoenix Police Department after serving a three-week unpaid suspension, a police spokesperson confirmed to Phoenix New Times. Months after the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office came under fire for drop- ping 180 misdemeanor cases in 2020, including DUIs, Halleman’s 2021 arrest raises new questions about how many other cases have slipped through the cracks, how the statute of limitations was allowed to lapse, and who bears responsibility. Halleman’s case is now under investiga- tion by the state’s law enforcement watchdog, the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. AZPOST, which comprises mostly law enforcement officials, oversees police officer certification. It can revoke or suspend certifications as a result of misconduct, regardless of how the misconduct was handled by an officer’s employer. At its September 21 meeting, the board voted unanimously to open an >> p 11
