Union Drives at Starbucks Proliferate

​Unionization efforts at Starbucks are multiplying and are now present at 60 stores in 19 states. We've gathered articles on the news from SHRM Online and other media outlets.

Effort Gained Steam at End of January

At least 14 of the stores pursuing union elections petitioned federal labor officials on Jan. 31 to set a vote. Altogether, the union drive affects only a fraction of Starbucks' nearly 9,000 stores. Nonetheless, as the union organizing spreads, it may be harder for Starbucks to fight each one individually. Starbucks workers who want a union are advocating for better staffing, training and pay.

In a December letter to staff, the company's North America president said, "We do not want a union between us as partners" but added that the company would "bargain in good faith."

(NPR)

Latest Union Election Filings

Workers filed for union elections on Jan. 31 in more stores in Buffalo, N.Y.; Eugene, Ore.; Everett, Wash.; Ithaca, N.Y.; Kansas City, Mo.; Overland Park, Kan.; Portland, Ore.; and Santa Cruz, Calif. A vote count for an election in Mesa, Ariz., will take place on Feb. 16. The store-by-store election model has proved advantageous for Workers United, the union representing Starbucks workers. Starbucks has opposed this model, maintaining that the appropriate electoral unit is the regional market.

(Vice) and (HR Dive)

Filings for Union Elections Made Elsewhere

Employees also filed for unionization in Atlanta. Workers in stores in Colorado, Illinois, Tennessee and Starbucks' headquarters city of Seattle have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for union elections as well.

(Fox 5 Atlanta)

Organizing Was First Successful in Buffalo

In December, a Starbucks location in Buffalo, N.Y., became the first of the chain's company-owned cafes in the U.S. to vote in favor of unionizing. Soon thereafter, a second store in Buffalo organized.

(SHRM Online) and (SHRM Online)

Unionization Dipped Last Year

Despite the recent unionization drives at Starbucks, unionization dipped to 6.1 percent of the private sector last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). "In 2021, the number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions continued to decline (-241,000) to 14 million, and the percent who were members of unions—the union membership rate—was 10.3 percent," according to the BLS. The unionization rate of public-sector workers—33.9 percent—was more than five times that in the private sector.

(SHRM Online) and (The National Law Review)