Starbucks workers in Chicago, Cleveland, and Eugene, Oregon filed to form a union. They join a wave organizing efforts at Starbucks locations across America, just a month after workers from Buffalo united.
According to Starbucks Workers United, workers are in 29th or Willamette according to Starbucks Workers United in Eugene, Logan and California in ChicagoAnd 6th Street in ClevelandRecently, the workers applied to unionize. If these workers are successful, they will join the Elmwood location in Buffalo in being among the first of the company’s roughly 9,000 corporate-owned locations to successfully form a union.
These three new locations bring the total number of unionized stores to 16 and more than a dozen have ongoing organizing efforts. Numerous stores have filed unionization petitions in New York. as well as stores inSeattle; Knoxville in Tennessee; Broomfield in Colorado; Greater Boston; Mesa Arizona; Chicago Wabash Avenue Location. One effort – Camp Road in Buffalo – failed, with workers voting against unionization.
Like their fellow Starbucks organizers in Buffalo, workers in Chicago, Eugene and Cleveland cited Starbucks’s own purported social responsibility in their letters to CEO Kevin Johnson announcing their unionization efforts. Eugene workers said that Starbucks has taken their responsibilities seriously, but they are not satisfied with the results. laudable stances on social issuesIt has been failing its workers through its union-busting campaigns.
“Starbucks’ mission statement is ‘to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time,’” Cleveland workers wrote. “We at store 2390 believe there is no better way for the company to fully live its mission statement than through accountability and by respecting partners’ right to unionize.”
Chicago workers expressed a similar sentiment, citing Starbucks’s “record profits” as a reason for the company to treat its workers better and allow them to organize. “For the better part of its history, Starbucks management’s relationship with its workers has been one predicated on the concept of partnership. However, without the ability to fairly negotiate wages and conditions, Starbucks and its workers can never have a true partnership,” the Logan and California Starbucks employees wrote.
Indeed, the company has been marking record profitsAccording to the company’s fourth quarter profits, which exceeded pre-pandemic profits, by 11 percent, was a significant increase. The profits seem to be at workers’ expense, as they report unsafe working conditions and concerns about the pandemic.
“Even while working in the midst of an ongoing health crisis, we do not feel we have been adequately cared for in terms of consistent guidelines or effective safety measures,” the Cleveland workers wrote. They also reported burnout and feeling like “cogs in a machine,” despite the company’s pledge to treat them as “partners.”
Elmwood employees have also filed similar complaints. Strike last week to protest what they called “unsafe working conditions” due to COVID. “Starbucks would rather let loyal employees walk than address critical issues regarding COVID,” wrote Elmwood worker and organizer Michelle Eisen. “Corporate continues to put profits over partners.”
The strike ended on Monday. A month ago, Elmwood workers from Buffalo formed a union despite extraordinary odds. The store was swarmedWith executives and took Other drastic steps to quell union efforts.
Starbucks recently suffered a loss in union-busting efforts to Mesa. Last week, a regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board was killed. ordered that ballotsMesa elections should be limited to one store and not sent to all employees. The company tried to discredit store-by-store elections by arguing against them. This was to make it more difficult for employees to vote in other stores that have not been participating in unionization efforts.
