Employees at a Starbucks store in Seattle have voted to unionize, the latest group to do so in a union push that appears to be gaining steam.
The result, announced by the National Labor Relations Board after a count on Tuesday, takes the number of unionized company-owned U.S. stores to seven, out of nearly 9,000. Since Seattle is Starbucks’s hometown and birthplace, the result represents a big gain for Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.
The tally was 9 to 0, and one ballot was uncounted after the company challenged it.
Starbucks’s chief executive, Kevin Johnson, is leaving his post, the company said last week. The company has performed well financially during the pandemic, but management has had to contend with an upswell of criticism from employees — and its stock price is down 30 percent from its peak. Howard Schultz, who oversaw Starbucks’s growth into a global coffee giant, is returning as chief executive on an interim basis, effective April 4.
The company’s leadership has long pursued a union-free model. But after two stores in the Buffalo area voted to unionize in December, more than 100 Starbucks stores in more than 25 states have filed for union elections.
Source: NY Times
