Pro-union pins sit on a table during a watch party for Starbucks’ employees union election in December in Buffalo, N.Y.  Starbucks union organizers say the company is closing a New York store to retaliate. Joshua Bessex/AP

Most of the companies and places and people we ask the question “Really?” of are more clearly acting in bad faith. In this case we are more puzzled that certain. We have generally been a fan of the company that had much to do with improving the lot of coffee farmers, with educating the public about coffee quality, with treating its employees fairly, and many other good works. If their employees feel the need to organize, and clearly want to organize, then Starbucks not supporting them seems out of character. Closing a shop location in Ithaca, a town we know well, may be due to that town being cosmopolitan enough to have several good coffee options:

Starbucks union says the coffee giant is closing a store to retaliate

Starbucks is closing a store in Ithaca, N.Y., in what Starbucks union organizers are calling an illegal move of retaliation after workers at the location voted to unionize.

The coffee giant gave the employees at the College Ave. location near Cornell University a one-week notice of the closure, the union says, with the store slated to permanently close on June 10.

The coffee giant has said the decision to close the store was unrelated to the unionization effort. The store was one of three Starbucks locations in Ithaca that voted to unionize on April 8.

Workers at the College Ave. location previously went on a one-day strike in April for what the union says were unsafe working conditions — “a waste emergency caused by the overflowing grease trap.” Starbucks later cited the grease trap as reason for shuttering the location, according to the union.

Read the whole article here.