{"id":3115,"date":"2022-07-05T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniontrack.com\/blog\/?p=3115"},"modified":"2025-05-12T18:11:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T18:11:44","slug":"starbucks-workers-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniontrack.com\/blog\/starbucks-workers-union","title":{"rendered":"Baristas Unite: A Look Inside the Starbucks Unionization Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ken Green
CEO & Founder
UnionTrack<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps one of the most significant unionization movements in recent history is happening right now at Starbucks locations across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What started with a single, successful union vote at a Buffalo, New York, location in December 2021 has grown into a nationwide unionization movement. The drive has seen the successful organization of 100 sites in at least 25 states by the end of May 2022, and hundreds more locations petitioning to unionize, reports Jiwook Jung<\/a>, assistant new editor at The Cornell Daily Sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This movement is so poignant because it is happening at a company with a reputation for being progressive and worker-friendly, and because it\u2019s happening in an industry that has not traditionally been unionized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty amazing that a company that large and that present in American consciousness \u2014 everybody knows what Starbucks is \u2014 is unionizing,\u201d says Ileen DeVault<\/a>, professor of labor history at Cornell University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a look at the meteoric rise of the Starbucks unionization drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Starbucks Workers Started Unionizing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Starbucks has long relied on its reputation as a worker-friendly company that treats its employees as \u201cpartners\u201d to ensure goodwill between employees and management. The relationship, however, soured during the pandemic as working conditions deteriorated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStarbucks fell short of the expectations and values the company had prided itself on and the conversation for unionization began amongst the workers,\u201d writes Jung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleveland, Ohio-area barista Cara Rovella,<\/a> explains that high turnover, COVID infections, pay disparities, and a desire to hold the company accountable to its worker-friendly reputation are essential motivators for workers\u2019 efforts to unionize. \u201cWe could quit and go somewhere else,\u201d says Rovella. \u201cWe like our jobs. We\u2019re doing this because we care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, the company doesn\u2019t see it that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"two<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Victory in the Face of Heavy Union-busting Campaigns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Starbucks is strongly opposed to all unionization efforts and runs fierce union-busting campaigns that have resulted in \u201ca torrent of unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against the company,\u201d notes Matt Bruenig<\/a>, founder of People’s Policy Project. Since January 2022, notes Bruenig, Starbucks Workers United<\/a> has filed 149 ULP charges against the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steven Greenhouse,<\/a> senior fellow at The Century Foundation, describes some of the union-busting tactics used by the company:<\/p>\n\n\n\n