Yahoo Autos A top Starbucks executive showed up to a store in Buffalo and swept the floors
A photo shows Starbucks executive Rossann Williams sweeping floors in a store.
Starbucks said exeutives routinely visit stores to hear from workers and learn about conditions in stores.
Some workers said they believe the visit could be tied to a union drive.
Starbucks executives have visited stores in Buffalo, New York over the last couple of weeks to talk to workers, sweep floors, and even take out the trash, according to some store employees.
A viral photo recently tweeted by Starbucks Workers United, a group representing unionizing Starbucks workers, shows Rossann Williams, Starbucks' executive vice president and president of North America, sweeping floors in front of a Starbucks counter.
Starbucks spokesperson Reggie Borges told Insider that such visits are routine. Executives, including Williams, frequently travel to Starbucks locations to hear from workers and learn about conditions in stores, he said.
Starbucks calls the visits "listening sessions."
"Listening sessions are a common occurrence for our leaders," he said. "In the last year, our leaders have held more than 2,000 listening sessions across the country. Rossann Williams alone has done 175."
Some employees believe the visits are instead a response to workers from three stores in the area announcing an intent to unionize in late August. Workers said chronic understaffing, along with long waits for customers and product shortages, pushed them to organize this year.
"Right after we announced [plans to unionize] three stores, Starbucks sent Rossann Williams from Seattle with a few other people. They've never been here before, they wouldn't usually be. It's very out of the ordinary," Alexis Rizzo, a shift supervisor who has worked at Starbucks for six years and a member of the union organizing committee, told Insider.
