In what is being hailed as a huge victory, Starbucks Workers United announced in late February that they had “a path forward” to union contracts for the more than 9,000 Starbucks baristas at nearly 400 stores that have voted to unionize. The announcement comes more than two and a half years after the first baristas were organized in Buffalo, NY.
In a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter), the union said, “during mediated discussions over ongoing brand and IP litigation, a constructive path forward emerged on the broader issues of the future of organizing and collective bargaining at Starbucks.”
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler called the agreement “a significant victory for these heroic baristas and an inspiration to workers everywhere.”
The announcement came just days after an additional 21 Starbucks stores filed petitions with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for union elections. It was the largest single-day filing since Starbucks baristas began organizing in 2021.
In what the Union called a “good faith” measure, Starbucks agreed to provide baristas represented by Workers United with May 2022 benefits, including credit card tipping. The company had previously announced it would increase pay and benefits for most of its US-based hourly workers but said that unionized workers were not eligible for some of those perks. n
