A Starbucks in Tennessee became the first store in the state to join what has become a nationwide movement among the coffee chain giant’s employees to unionize.
“The Merchants Drive Starbucks in Knoxville, Tennessee just WON their union vote and will become the first unionized Starbucks store in the south,” Starbucks Workers United announced Tuesday on Twitter.
The Merchants Drive Starbucks in Knoxville, Tennessee just WON their union vote and will become the first unionized Starbucks store in the south.
— SBWorkersUnited (@SBWorkersUnited) March 29, 2022
The movement that began in Buffalo, New York, and worked its way through the Midwest to stores in Ohio and Minnesota has now gone nationwide.
According to union’s Twitter account, stores in Utah, Arizona and California have also joined the union, while stores in several other states are protesting what they describe as unfair labor policies.
“Starbucks is the leader in the coffee industry, and one of the most successful companies in the world,” the Starbucks Workers United website says. “We want to share in that success, and we want to have a voice in determining what that looks like for us. We think there is a disconnect between corporate and us. The company says that partners come first, but all too often puts large shareholders above all else.”
In response to the Tennessee store’s unionization effort, Starbucks Workers United claims that company owner and former CEO Howard Schultz is attempting to buy them off with a new benefits package.
The union seems to have already decided that whatever the offer is, it will not be good enough.
“BREAKING: Insiders at Starbucks tell us Howard Schultz plans to announce new benefits in an attempt to slow the momentum of our union campaign,” the group said Thursday. “We know that this is a response to our efforts, and without a union these benefits can be taken away as easily as they can be granted.”
BREAKING: Insiders at Starbucks tell us Howard Schultz plans to announce new benefits in an attempt to slow the momentum of our union campaign. We know that this is a response to our efforts, and without a union these benefits can be taken away as easily as they can be granted.
— SBWorkersUnited (@SBWorkersUnited) March 31, 2022
After the Cleveland store unionized, the union members sent a letter to Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, describing their issues with the company:
Starbucks partners invest their safety, time, and well-being to serve at the forefront of the customer service industry, and this has been especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic. (However), we do not feel we have been adequately cared for in terms of consistent guidelines or effective safety measures … These experiences have often (led) to burnout, disillusionment, and a feeling that rather than being considered “partners,” we are simply cogs in a machine. … we know we can all do better.
The company has not directly commented on the unionization efforts.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Starbucks Coffee” by TR.
