The seeds of the itch to organize at Rising Star Coffee in Lakewood started with a bad smell at the café.
One that might’ve proved fatal, according to assistant manager Allie Jeswald. A construction crew’s gas generator was leaking from the story above them. Some baristas got headaches; others took a trip to the ER, feeling lightheaded.
Jeswald, who said she herself went to urgent care, checked the café’s carbon monoxide monitor. It was expired. She changed the batteries. It beeped four times: an emergency, Jeswald read, suggesting possible poisoning.
She took the liberty to call the shots. Fellow baristas could go home, she said.
“I told workers if they feel unsafe or sick or anything, then to leave,” Jeswald recalled. “But the owners, one of the owners specifically, insisted it was dead batteries: there was nothing to worry about.”
Weeks later, Jeswald helped rally six of her fellow baristas to sign a letter of demands for increased safety awareness, citing the leaky generator and residual construction sawdust blown around the café. She reached out to workers at other Rising Star locations—Hingetown, Downtown—to see if they had similar grievances.
Jeswald was fired four days later, on July 22.
Management claimed Jeswald’s performance was lacking, despite recent reviews that showed high marks. A petition supported by 24 local organizations and labor groups argued that the firing was in fact not performance related.
“The timing of Jeswald’s dismissal suggests retaliation for engaging in legally-protected workplace organizing activities,” a press release issued by the NEO Worker Center on Tuesday read. “Such retaliatory actions not only impact Jeswald, but work to chill other employees’ organizing efforts.”
Rising Star Coffee Roasters was founded by Kim Jenkins in 2012, and operates seven locations, including a roastery in Clark-Fulton. After Jenkins retired in 2020, he handed the business to four former workers and an investor, according to their site.
This is the first time there’s been an official push here by baristas to unionize. Which, on the surface, seems like nothing that might ruffle feathers.
“We continue to work to ensure that our cafes are open-minded and inclusive meeting places for our communities,” its website reads, “and that the jobs we create foster in our staff a practice of self-motivation, a sense of accomplishment, and a forward momentum for their future.”
In an interview Tuesday, Jeswald and a current employee, Nia Gatewood, said they have not yet picked a union for their fellow 40 or so baristas and managers to join. It’s unclear exactly how many of these 40 employees are union-eligible.
“We’re just asking for some support from the public,” Gatewood, a barista since 2023, said. “We don’t want people to boycott the shop or the company.”
“We still want to support the company. I—we like working there,” Jeswald added. “I really liked my job. I just want to feel safe and not, like, afraid for my life.”
In a statement to Scene, Rising Star’s owners said Jeswald was fired because she lied about her work hours and, they added, “violated multiple policies.” The issues with the gas generator and the carbon monoxide, they stated, were taken care of in early July.
But not apparently because of her. “As a supervisor at the Lakewood location, Ms. Jeswald was responsible for addressing or at least reporting the issues that were raised in the letter,” Rising Star wrote. “She failed to do so.”
Rising Star told Scene they’re pro-organizing and not interested in union-busting. Three of the owners were baristas before Jenkins handed the businesses over to them.
“The choice to join a union or to not join a union is up to each employee, and we respect that,” they wrote. “However, we have already taken significant action to investigate and address concerns raised by employees, and we will continue to do so.”
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This article appears in Cleveland SCENE 7/16/25.