LAKEWOOD, Ohio — The Rising Star Coffee Roasters outlet on Madison Avenue in Lakewood remains closed because of a labor dispute. The conflict between owners and employees started in June with employees expressing safety concerns ranging from a possible carbon monoxide leak to electrical fires and broken coffee-making equipment.
Rising Star has a roastery and six retail coffee shops in the Greater Cleveland area.
Employees at the Lakewood location sent a letter to Rising Star owners asking for a meeting to address health and safety concerns.
“We sent that to the owner and sent it to the other cafes, so they knew what we were doing and what we were going through,” said Nia Sabri, one of the baristas at Rising Star in Lakewood. After the meeting, owners fired assistant manager Allie Jeswald and scheduled the Lakewood café to close at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, August 2 and 3.
“We weren’t expecting the owners to fire Allie as a response,” said Sabri. “Once that happened, it signaled to us that us coming together like this would not be enough to make these changes for a safer work environment.”
The impasse led to unionizing efforts, including a “sip-in” demonstration at closing hours on Sunday, Aug. 3. That’s when the conflict escalated and Lakewood Police were called to remove workers and customers.
At that point, owners closed the café for an undetermined amount of time, and it remains closed as of August 6.
Rising Star was founded in 2012 by Kim Jenkins. In 2020 he sold it to three employees and an investor. According to the company’s website, the business is owned by Dawn Fox, Bruno Green, Cristo Kallas and Brandon Riggs.
The day of the sip-in Fox sent an email of termination to two baristas and suspension to six baristas including Sabri.
The email sent to Sabri reads:
“I am writing to advise you that you are suspended pending investigation effective immediately and until further notice. You will be paid for all scheduled hours that you do not work while we conduct our investigation. You are prohibited from entering our stores during your suspension. We will be in contact soon with more information.”
At this point the baristas have received no further information. They are working with an organizer from the Northeast Ohio Worker Center to identify their next steps and what union they would join.
The NEO Worker Center is a non-profit organization for working people to educate, organize, and resist unfair labor practices.
Cleveland.com reached out to Fox and called the company’s headquarters to talk to other owners. Fox responded with a copy of a long statement posted on Rising Star’s social media.
An August 3 post on Rising Star’s Instagram conveys the owners’ response to the sip-in and unionizing efforts:
“We must address an unfortunate situation that took place at our Lakewood Café this afternoon.
We previously decided to close the café at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Closing the café at 1 p.m. had nothing to do with a union. We did not want to disclose the reasons for the early closure, but after misleading social media posts and a mob of outsiders that entered our café today, we feel you should know our side of the story.”
The post goes on to say:
“As closing time approached, a very large crowd gathered at the store to prevent us from closing, and some employees actively refused to close the café. Due to the size of the crowd and the aggressive actions of many present, we were forced to call the Lakewood Police Department for assistance.”
When it comes to unions, the statement says owners are unconcerned with unionizing.
“If our employees choose to join a union or not to join a union, that is their choice. But that is not what happened today. There is no place for harassment in our café. There is no place for hate or intimidation. No one should feel intimidated for coming to a coffee shop or trying to do their job.”
“While we continue to investigate these events, the individuals who crossed our customer counter will be banned from all Rising Star locations. The employees who physically obstructed their co-workers from doing their jobs and put them in harm’s way have been terminated.”
On Monday, August 4, baristas who were terminated and suspended met in front of the closed Rising Star location and served free coffee to customers who showed up.
“We’re going to keep going and we’re going to get all the cafes with us,” Sabri said. “We’re calling for an anti-boycott. We don’t want people to boycott at all. The baristas at other shops are our friends. We don’t want them to lose money because of us.
“We like our jobs. We want that to be clear to everyone. We don’t want to destroy the business at all. We just want better working conditions,” she continued.
While they’re not working, employees – most of them full-time — have established a GoFundMe that has raised more than $8,000. They have also created an Instagram account, RisingStarWorkersUnion, to share updates.
“Things are getting harder for working people,” said Sabri, “We have to talk to each other and change the situation together. That seems like a trend in the service industry.”
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