Starbucks Workers Formed First Union in Missouri and Ohio, 23 States Now Have Unions

The push to unionize corporate-owned stores continues across the country.

TY Lim/Shutterstock
TY Lim/Shutterstock

Since the first corporate-owned Starbucks unionized in Buffalo in December 2021, an additional 87 stores have voted to unionize. Hundreds of other stores intend to hold union elections in the near future.

On Tuesday, workers at stores in Columbus, Ohio and Independence, Missouri voted in favor of unionizing. Each election became the first store in the state to be unionized and brought the total number of states with union Starbucks up to 23. Within hours of workers winning the Columbus store, a second store in Cleveland, Ohio also voted to unionize.

By the morning of May 25, workers at two more stores in Texas announced their intent to unionize. In other locations, there are now multiple unions in the area. California already has five unionized stores, as does the city of Portland. In Buffalo, there are now seven union Starbucks.

Starbucks' corporate executives have not supported the labor movement spearheaded by Starbucks Workers United. The company brought back original CEO Howard Schultz in an effort to deter union efforts. The National Board of Labor Relations has accused Starbucks of 128 different unfair labor practices in 19 different states. The company has also been accused of unlawfully firing 20 workers who were union activists.

Despite this effort from Starbucks executives, there are still several more union elections coming up. Two elections are scheduled in June in San Antonio, Texas.

“We are not anti-Starbucks. We are Starbucks! We know what it takes to make this company run, and we know best what we need to be able to do our jobs to the fullest. We want to be able to be our best selves, and we cannot reach our full potential if we are understaffed, overextended, exhausted, and burned-out,” the Starbucks Works United website states. We are organizing because we know that Starbucks partners have the ability to improve this company, transform this industry, and form a collaborative, creative, forward-thinking, justice seeking, independent organization that will allow us to advocate for ourselves.”

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Opheli Garcia Lawler is a Staff Writer on the News team at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter @opheligarcia and Instagram @opheligarcia.