Starbucks workers at one of three flagship roasteries in the country voted to form a union on Thursday, just 2.5 miles from the company’s corporate headquarters in downtown Seattle.
“This Roastery is the fulfillment of a decades-long dream,” Schultz said when the Seattle roastery opened in 2014. “Everything we’ve ever done has led us to this point. This is the moment of the next generation of Starbucks.”in over 200 stores so far, covering more than 5,000 employees. More filings come in daily, and the number of unionized stores is rapidly increasing.
The location is the second Starbucks store in the company’s hometown to unionize; last month, workers atvoted unanimously to form a union. The location is just 10 minutes away by car from Starbucks’s corporate headquarters, and workers say they often see corporate employees come in and offer their support for the union drive.
While workers have offered their support, however, management has been less than friendly toward the union and the worker-organizers. “Union-busting has become synonymous with Starbucks,” the union wrote in a statement. “Partners from stores that petition to join Workers United are prepared for the deluge of union-busting tactics that the company employs, including holding captive audience meetings, threatening loss of benefits, and spreading of misleading information to sow fear and confusion. The Seattle Roastery was no different.
The union noted that it has filed nearly 80 charges against Starbucks so far, alleging that the company has illegally interfered with the union drive and that it has retaliated against pro-union workers. The National Labor Relations Board