STARBUCKS was accused of escalating its union-busting activities in the United States today after it sacked Cassie Fletcher, a leading organiser in the successful Workers United campaign in its Buffalo store.

Ms Fletcher was told by bosses that she “no longer met the needs of the business” because she was unable to open up her availability to work more hours.

She had worked at the Elmwood store in Buffalo, the first in the global coffee chain’s recent history to unionise in December last year.

Starbucks was a second job she needed to supplement the wages of her full-time employment, but she recently had to cut her availability, whereon bosses delivered her an ultimatum: either make herself more available — something Ms Fletcher says they knew wasn’t an option — or get the sack.

“I am no longer being scheduled nor am I allowed to pick up any shifts, and as of today I am effectively terminated from the company, at the first unionised corporate location in the country,” she said.

Her dismissal came the same day as the Washington Post published an article that profiled her contribution to the successful unionisation campaign.

Ms Fletcher said that Starbucks had always been an employer that prides itself in its flexibility.

“As a leader in the union’s organising and negotiations committees, and having helped organise the strike over Covid-19 safety, I know something has changed. This is not the company I signed on to in 2017, and this just further proves that we need a union in our stores,” she said.

Earlier this month Starbucks sacked almost all of the union organising committee in one of its Memphis stores in one of the most aggressive acts of union busting.

Starbucks was contacted for comment.