Starbucks unions

rdf:langString Starbucks unions

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rdf:langString In 2021 and 2022, over 6,500 workers at over 250 corporate-owned Starbucks stores in the U.S. have voted to unionize with Workers United at the multinational coffeehouse chain, starting with a store in Buffalo, New York, for the first time since the 1980s in an ongoing unionization effort. About a third of Starbucks' Chilean workforce is unionized, as well as 450 workers in New Zealand and one store in Canada. Previously in the United States, there had been inconsistent unionization efforts beginning in the 1980s. Many of those unions folded, in part due to the company's long history of opposing unionization efforts. Warehouse and roasting plant workers in Seattle were Starbucks' first to unionize in 1985. During contract negotiation, the bargaining unit expanded to include store workers but the same workers moved to decertify their representation within two years. Starbucks stores and a distribution plant unionized in British Columbia in the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s. The company strongly opposed unionization efforts in the 2000s through present day, with multiple National Labor Relations Board complaints ending in settlements or findings of labor law violations. The Industrial Workers of the World led an organizing campaign in the mid-2000s based in New York City that did not result in union recognition. In December 2021, the Elmwood Avenue store in Buffalo became the first location in the United States to unionize in the 2020s. The first union vote in Starbucks' hometown of Seattle was unanimously in favor of the union. As of October 2022, a total of 256 stores in 35 states voted in favor of unionizing and stores across the country are awaiting union votes.