Starbucks Workers United announced Monday that they had officially exceeded their goal. 100 locationsAlthough the company is increasing its union-busting efforts, filing for union representation marks a significant milestone.
“It’s official – we reached the 100 store mark,” the union tweeted. “103 stores (to be exact) have filed petitions with the NLRB to join the Starbucks Workers United movement!”
Three stores in Virginia and one in Wisconsin have filed new filings, bringing the total to over 100 and 26 states. Two stores have already successfully merged. thousands of workersThey are currently organizing campaigns in their stores.
According to the union the number of stores who have filed for unionization in the last three weeks has doubled; by January 31, roughly 50 stores had filed.
“Make no mistake, we have momentum,” Lynne Fox, international president of Workers United, said in a statement. “I would welcome a conversation with [Starbucks CEO]Kevin Johnson is available anytime. Labor relations should be collaborative and not adversarial. There is no success without worker voices.”
The company has been more hostile towards the union movement than ever before, making desperate moves to support it as the union movement grows. Earlier This monthThe company fired seven workers from a Memphis, Tennessee unionizing store. The fired workers comprised the store’s entire organizing committee.
Recently, the company firedHe was a prominent organizer in Buffalo, New York, where started the unionization campaign. Former Starbucks worker Cassie Fleischer was a member of the union’s bargaining committee, which is currently in negotiations with the company for the unionized Buffalo stores’ first contracts.
“As a leader in the union’s organizing and negotiations committees, and having helped organize the strike over covid-19 safety, I know something has changed,” Fleischer wrote on Facebook. “This is not the company I signed on to in 2017, and this just further proves that we need a union in our stores.”
It is illegal for companies to retaliate against workers exercising their right of union formation. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), however, can take many years to resolve unfair labor practice cases. If the company is found guilty of violating the law by firing an organizing worker without good cause, There is virtually no punishment for the company, which would only be required to rehire the employee and pay the wages for the time lost – or what would be the regular cost of operation for the company if they hadn’t fired the employee.
The company tried to defer a vote count in Mesa, Arizona last week for a unionizing shop. It is worth repeating the argument. that union elections shouldn’t be held on a store-by-store basis. The NLRB ruled against the companyThe company’s argument to delay the vote count was too late, and the union won. It’s a narrow win for the union, which is confident that the store will unionize.
“This is incredibly disappointing for us, but we know that this is just a delayed victory,” said Michelle Hejduk, shift supervisor at the organizing Mesa store, in a press conference.
The company has attempted to oppose store-by-store elections in its attempts to delay and stop elections in Mesa or Buffalo in the past, but the NLRB has ruled in their favor each time.
These tactics go beyond the other union-busting moves the company has made within organizing stores. Workers in Mesa claimed that the company had added five managers to the store and many employees when the union campaign began. Workers across the country report that the company is holding mandatory meetings with organizing stores and having one-on-one confrontations to intimidate them from organizing.
The company is also LeveragingThe Buffalo contract negotiations are against unionizing stores. It has been telling organizing employees to wait for the results of the negotiations before voting for a union – while likely knowing full well that it would drag out negotiations for years if needed.
Employees are begging Starbucks to halt its union-busting campaign. They also want it to return to its roots, which they claim is a progressive company.
