The Starbucks store in Mesa, Arizona, voted to unionize on Friday after a 12 day delay, dealing a blow to the coffee giant.
Starbucks employees and supporters react as votes are read during a union election.
The Mesa Starbucks store was expected to count votes February 16 but this was delayed due to an unsuccessful request for review filed by Starbucks with the National Labor Relations Board.
Some workers at the store accused Starbucks of trying every trick in the book to get them to vote no, including emotional displays by the manager that made them feel guilty and scared, according to a statement from the union.
Starbucks took on about 18 new employees at the Mesa store in an attempt to weaken the pro-union vote, according to union organizers.
Starbucks said Friday that it would respect the process and would bargain in good faith, and that it hoped the union would do the same.
CNBC reported that Starbucks employees in Mesa will vote on unionization on March 18.
Only three Starbucks stores in the US have voted to unionize, including the one in Mesa. In November, Workers United filed a complaint against Starbucks, accusing the company of using threats, intimidation, and the closing of facilities to foil organizing efforts. In the 2000s, organizing campaigns failed in New York City and Philadelphia. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in the year 2021, only 1.2% of workers at food service and drinking establishments were unionized. The decline of unionization rates in the U.S. is seen as bad by a small majority of Americans. The decline of unions is seen as a bad thing by 75% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, compared to just 45% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.
The Mesa workers must have their ballots certified by the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board, which could take as long as a week, CNBC reported. The union will have to negotiate a contract with the company after that.
This is another historic moment for Starbucks partners and service industry workers across the country, according to a statement from a shift supervisor at the Mesa Starbucks store. The movement is powered by partners. We want a seat at the table and a say in our working conditions. We are holding Starbucks accountable because they haven't lived up to their mission and values for too long.
There areoldids109. According to Starbucks Workers United, how many Starbucks stores have filed to vote on unionization across 26 states.
The three Starbucks stores in Buffalo that had voted on whether to unionize had their ballots taken away Wednesday pending a decision from the National Labor Relations Board.
Starbucks workers voted to unionize in New York, but a second store voted against it.
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