St. Louis Starbucks workers to file for union election [View all]

Baristas set to join national organizing wave at coffee chain

Ladue, MO – Starbucks Cafe workers at 1500 S. Lindbergh Blvd. will file for a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election later today and join the Starbucks Workers United movement, which already includes three Kansas City, Mo. area stores.

The Starbucks workers are organizing with Workers United (SEIU), the same international union that backed successful campaigns in Buffalo, NY last December. According to Workers United, an overwhelming majority of eligible employees at the Starbucks located at Lindbergh Blvd. and Clayton Road have signed union authorization cards.

In a letter e-mailed early Tuesday morning to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and signed by the store’s union organizing committee and supporters, the local workers wrote:

“Despite being a highly profitable store during a highly profitable time for the company, we are being gaslit by management that we suddenly cannot afford sufficient staffing. Partners fear they will not meet their benefits eligibility, and many have felt forced to seek second jobs or new jobs entirely. Since new management has started cutting hours, fully a dozen members of our staff have left for other jobs…Those of us who remain face rock bottom morale and constant lies from management. We are announcing our union because we know we can stop this. There are other options than walking away: We can fight back. We no longer are able to trust Starbucks to do the right thing. As a unionized store, we [would be] happy to help drive the company in the right direction.”

https://labortribune.com/st-louis-starbucks-workers-to-file-for-union-election/