Starbucks (SBUX) baristas at Mesa, Arizona store will have to wait to vote on whether to unionize, as workers await a decision from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on the company’s request for review.
As workers at more locations push to form unions, the coffee giant —which has largely opposed the union effort — asked for a district or market-wide vote, according to a company spokesperson: “[It’s] the most appropriate way to count the votes — not just one store.”
It’s unclear when the vote count will be, but Arizona workers appeared unfazed over the delay.
“Initially today we had this set up and we were planning to go celebrate after, but now we are kind of free. So I say we go out and start organizing some more stores [at] this time,” Michelle Hejdak, a shift supervisor at the Mesa Starbucks, told reporters at a press conference.
“Everyone is fired up by the way back at the store, fired up and ready to go,” Liz Alanna, a shift supervisor, said at the press event.
Ian Hayes, the attorney representing the union, accused Starbucks of trying to avoid a defeat. “We know they’re going to lose the requests for review. There’s no real legitimate question about that. They just wanted to try to break the workers’ momentum by depriving them of the victory today.”
Starbucks Workers United (SWU), a group that advocates for Starbucks workers seeking unionization, says the movement is “coming in fast and furious” and they aren’t anticipating a slow down anytime soon.
The Mesa store is the fourth Starbucks location to hold a union vote, and the first to vote since late last year. This effort was fueled by “our treatment, the way that upper management had treated us and how they treated our manager and how they separated her from the company,” Alanna said.
There were 43 workers eligible to vote at the Mesa location. They were sent ballots by the NLRB after employees filed signed cards requesting to organize, according to CNN.
Wednesday’s tally vote represents how the unionization efforts have spread from Buffalo, New York to Arizona, as of late last year.
In December, workers at three Starbucks locations around the Buffalo area held their union votes, with one becoming the first store to have workers (also known as “partners”) vote in favor of the union. Meanwhile, a second store was eventually found to have gone in favor of the measure, following challenges from both Starbucks and the union. The third store voted against the measure, though workers are currently challenging the results.
SWU says the push has now spread to 97 stores across 26 states, who have formally filed petitions to hold unionization votes. At three of those stores, also in the Buffalo area, votes are set to be counted next week. Even though some of the elections have not been scheduled yet, the union is confident of a victory in most of the locations where petitions have been filed.
Even if the employees vote in favor of the measure in all of those elections, it will still represent a fraction of the stores that Starbucks operates.
According to company filings, Starbucks has 235,000 employees at nearly 9,000 U.S. company operated stores, as of October 2021. However, the company has lobbied hard for its workers to not unionize – which included visits by top executives to stores holding votes to convince them to vote against the measure.
Wednesday’s tally also comes about a week after seven partners at a Memphis Starbucks said they were fired for leading unionization efforts. Starbucks, however, claimed that they were fired based on “safety and security violations,” including the employees allowing local media in the store after hours for an interview.
“With our vote being delayed, it hasn’t deterred any of us. And I hope that hasn’t deterred any of the other stores as well. [As for the] Memphis seven, we’re all with them complete solidarity,” said Tyler Ralston, a shift supervisor.
Dani Romero is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @daniromerotv
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