The Starbucks Union Campaign Has Won 16 Elections And Lost Just One

The union representing Starbucks workers is growing.

Workers at all three of the coffee chain's locations voted to join the union on Friday. The stores that voted were 19-1, 13-1 and 15-1.

Workers at a store in Kansas voted 6-1 in favor of unionizing, although several ballots have been challenged and could still change the outcome. The union expects to prevail once the National Labor Relations Board reviews the eligibility of the challenged votes.

On Thursday, workers at a group of Starbucks stores in the Buffalo and Rochester areas of New York voted to unionize. The campaign known as Starbucks Workers United won 16 elections and lost one, and now represents hundreds of workers in several states.

The campaign has filed for elections at roughly 200 stores around the country, making it likely that many more will choose to unionize. Starbucks is the first company in the country to have union representation at its corporate-owned stores.

The campaign was praised by high-profile union backers, including Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

THREE MORE enormous victories for @SBWorkersUnited! This movement of workers standing up and asserting their right to dignity and respect on the job has been an enormous inspiration to workers all across the country. Onward! https://t.co/qJYPQk17Jo

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 8, 2022

Starbucks held meetings with workers to encourage them to vote against the union. The labor board has rejected Starbucks' arguments that workers should vote in elections on a regional basis, rather than for individual stores.

Seven workers from a store in Memphis, Tennessee, were fired by the company because they were union activists. The firings are meant to purge union supporters from the ranks according to the charges filed by Workers United. Starbucks fired the Memphis workers because they allowed nonemployees into the store outside of work hours.

The labor board determined the Memphis firings were illegal and will pursue a case against Starbucks unless the company settles. Workers could be reinstated on the job if the labor board takes action.

“The Starbucks campaign has filed for union elections at roughly 200 stores around the country.”

The Starbucks campaign began in Buffalo, where workers unionized the first store. Since then, the union has announced new election petitions every week.

The company battles an organizing drive and has a former CEO back at the helm. In a recent talk with employees, he said he was not anti-union, but described the union campaign in dark terms.

He said that companies throughout the country are being attacked by the threat of unionization.

There is a growing campaign at Amazon. Workers at the JFK8 facility in Staten Island, New York, voted to join the new Amazon Labor Union in a secret ballot. There were workers who overcame the anti-union campaign waged by Amazon managers.

Amazon will challenge the vote and the election results.