(New York) A third Starbucks coffee shop in the United States, directly managed by the Seattle group, set up a union on Friday as the company seeks to discourage such affiliations, according to employees.
Posted at 6:53 p.m.
According to a statement from Workers United (SWU) and the United States Labor Rights Agency (NLRB), employees at Starbucks coffee shop in Mesa, Arizona voted 25 to 3 to join the union.
It is the third brand, operated directly by the group, to create a union, thus joining two other cafes in Buffalo, a city on the border with Canada, newly unionized since December.
“It’s a historic moment. […] for service industry workers across the country,” Michelle Hejduk, a team leader, said in a statement.
“This movement started in Buffalo and we’ve now spread it across the country,” she continues.
“This approach is truly driven and managed by employees. As employees, we demand a seat around the table and have a say in our working conditions,” says the manager.
“For too long, Starbucks has failed to live up to its mission and values and we hold them accountable,” she added.
The victory comes despite Starbucks’ efforts to “intimidate and pressure workers to vote no union,” the union statement said.
“Starbucks tried every trick possible to get us to vote ‘no’ to the union,” said waiter Zechariah Schwartz. “We were individually summoned and our manager cried and told us that she would personally be heartbroken if we voted for the union,” he said.
According to the union, some 109 Starbucks stores have called for elections to form a union in 26 US states.