Twitter/Screenshot
- Starbucks fired Alexis Rizzo, who served as a shift supervisor for seven years, on Friday.
- Rizzo sparked a nationwide labor movement by working to unionize two Starbucks stores in New York.
- "That is beyond unacceptable. Ms. Rizzo must be reinstated," Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted.
Starbucks has fired the worker who ignited a campaign at the coffee chain that led nearly 300 locations across the country to unionize.
Alexis Rizzo, the Buffalo-based Starbucks worker who began the Starbucks Workers United campaign, was fired after seven years with the company, Starbucks Workers United tweeted Saturday. CNBC later confirmed that Starbucks had fired her.
Insider reached out to Starbucks for comment Saturday, but did not immediately receive a response.
In an interview with CNBC, Rizzo said she was fired after her shift Friday, and that managers cited four times she was late for work. Rizzo said that two of those times, she had been one minute late.
A Starbucks spokesperson told CNBC that firings at the company only occur following clear policy violations, adding that Rizzo's attendance impacted other workers at her store.
"We appreciate that our Genesee St. partners provided the Starbucks Experience to each other and our customers this morning, and that area stores continue to serve customers without interruption this weekend," Rachel Wall, a spokesperson for the company, said in a statement.
—Starbucks Workers United (@SBWorkersUnited) April 1, 2023
Rizzo's firing follows the former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's recent appearance before Congress, where senators questioned him about alleged widespread union busting.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — who grilled Schultz over the company's treatment of employees in Buffalo stores and asked specifically about a recent ruling that Starbucks illegally monitored and fired employees there — led the hearing.
When news of Rizzo's firing broke, Sanders demanded that Rizzo get her job back.
"Instead of negotiating a first union contract as required by law, Starbucks has chosen to double down on its illegal union busting by firing Alexis Rizzo, a union leader in Buffalo who worked for Starbucks for 7 years," Sanders wrote on Twitter. "That is beyond unacceptable. Ms. Rizzo must be reinstated."
—Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) April 2, 2023
Rizzo said the job was a major part of her life. "I'm absolutely heartbroken. It wasn't just a job for me. It was like my family," Rizzo told CNBC. "It was like losing everything. I've been there since I was 17 years old. It's like my entire support system, and I think that they knew that."
Starbucks Workers United posted a GoFundMe page for Rizzo Friday, raising nearly $7,000 for Rizzo in one day. The page says that Starbucks and its management retaliated following Schultz's congressional hearing.