About a dozen current and former Starbucks employees protested outside the Union Square Starbucks last night, demanding that management reinstate fired barista Sharon Bell. Managers say they terminated Bell last week because of tardiness and attendance issues, but she says its actually retaliation for her involvement in the Starbucks Workers Union. Two other fellow union members were also fired recently, though one was reinstated. In December, a National Labor Relations Board judge found the company guilty of union busting and ordered several employees reinstated with back wages. According to the Seattle PI, the court documents read "like a reality-TV script, revealing Starbucks baristas and managers yelling at each other, mishandling blenders and cursing." One incident at the East 9th Street Starbucks almost came to blows, with a barista telling a manager, "You can go f*** yourself, if you want to f*** me up, go ahead, I'm here." Photo courtesy Benjamin Ferguson.