PSU Starbucks: Unionize on Friday, strike on Monday

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Photo courtesy Jamie Partridge

By MALLORY GRUBEN

Newly unionized baristas at a Starbucks shop on Portland State University campus walked off the job and shut down the store May 1 — just three days after voting 14-0 to join Starbucks Workers United. 

The strike started because managers told barista and lead union organizer Lauren Smith to clock off and go home after she showed up to work in a union T-shirt. 

“That is illegal, so now we are on strike,” Smith told a supporter who had joined the picket line.  Starbucks managers were unable to keep the store open. 

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