A Starbucks store near Buffalo, New York became the second unionized company-owned location in the United States, one of a growing number of the coffee chain’s stores seeking to organize workers.
Workers at the store, in the suburb of Cheektowaga, voted 15-9 in favor of representation by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. The National Labor Relations Board confirmed the vote Monday.
Baristas at the company’s cafes in at least seven other cities have said since last fall that they also want to organize.
Starbucks is evaluating its options and may appeal, a spokesperson for the company said. The company has 10 business days to file an appeal to the full labor board. If the appeal is denied, it must bargain with the union.
"We’ve been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us at Starbucks, and that conviction has not changed," a spokesperson said.
The company is evaluating its options and believes the employees whose ballots were set aside should be able to vote, he said.
Last month, Starbucks workers voted to unionize workers at a store in downtown Buffalo, making that store one of the first to unionize in Starbucks’ 50-year history. But at the time, the outcome of union elections at two other area stores – in Cheektowaga and Hamburg – was unclear. The union and Starbucks both challenged the eligibility of some voters.
Union spokesperson Richard Bensinger said Monday that the labor board had sided with the union and rejected the votes from six workers who had only briefly worked at the Cheektowaga location. Bensinger said the results from the Hamburg store remain undecided.
The union victory last month has set off a wave of interest in unionization at other Starbucks locations. Individual stores in Massachusetts, Arizona, Oregon, Illinois, Colorado, Tennessee and Starbucks’ home city of Seattle have petitioned the labor board for union elections. Three additional stores in Buffalo are also seeking union votes.
Starbucks owns more than 8,000 stores in the U.S.
Starbucks says its stores function better when it works directly with employees, not through a third party. But the company has said it will begin the bargaining process with the downtown Buffalo store.
"The vote outcomes will not change our shared purpose or how we will show up for each other," Starbucks Executive Vice President Rossann Williams said in a recent letter to employees.
Lexi Rizzo, a shift supervisor at the Cheektowaga store, said it was an emotional day for workers who backed the union.
"Finally, the partners feel we have a voice at our workplace," she said in a statement distributed by Workers United.
Employees at the first Buffalo store to be certified, on Elmwood Avenue, walked out a week ago in protest at what they said were unsafe, understaffed conditions amid a new wave of COVID-19 infections that has sickened workers and slowed service at many restaurants.
They went back to work on Monday.
"We said we weren’t going to put customers or partners at risk until we had enough staff to operate safely. As of Monday, we believe we can now do that," said Michelle Eisen, a union organizer and employee at the store.
The store also returned to the more frequent hand washing and cafe sanitization routines that employees had requested, said Jaz Brisack, a barista there.