2 more Seattle Starbucks locations file for unionization

SEATTLE (KOMO) — Starbucks workers at two Seattle stores filed petitions with the National Labor Relations Board to unionize with Starbucks Workers United. One location is at Third Avenue and Madison Street and the other is inside the Seattle Center Armory Food and Event Hall.

Workers sent letters to Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan to announce their organizing campaign. In the letters, workers explained they were unionizing because they “have seen the company value keeping the store running over the health and safety of partners, who were put at risk in unsafe working conditions."

Our store has some of the loveliest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with," said Pepper Burner, a barista and organizer at the 3rd and Madison location. "By working to unionize, we aim to make sure those people are protected, advocated for, and taken care of. Standing together allows us to move towards realizing a work environment that benefits all of us."

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Starbucks Workers United, the union that represents the chain's baristas, said Starbucks has launched a campaign that threatens workers' access to benefits. The union said Starbucks has fired more than 230 union leaders across the country and closed stores that have unionized.

According to a press release from the union, the NLRB has issued more than 100 official complaints against Starbucks, with more than 1,600 violations of federal labor law included.

“We need action, and the company has not taken any,” said union members at the Seattle Center location. “We refuse to accept people being pushed out of their healthcare by getting too few hours, increasing demands without increasing compensation, the niceties of a corporation that will not offer a meaningful forum to hear our voices.”

Starbucks Workers United said since December 2021, more than 335 Starbucks stores in 38 states and Washington D.C. have successfully unionized. The union said more than 8,500 baristas have joined.

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Starbucks told KOMO News that the company believes a "direct relationship as partners is core to the culture and experiences we create in our stores."

"To be clear: We respect the right of all partners to make their own decisions about union representation," Starbucks told KOMO News in an email. "We are committed to engaging in good faith collective bargaining for each store where a union has been appropriately certified."

On Thursday, Starbucks released its third-quarter fiscal results. The coffee giant announced that consolidated net revenues increased 12% to a record $9.2 billion.