Baristas at 2nd Connecticut Starbucks seeking a union
Vernon workers join West Hartford in election petition
A second Starbucks in Connecticut has petitioned federal labor officials for a union representation election.
Salwa Mogaddedi, a barista at the Talcottville Road coffee shop in Vernon, said 27 workers would be eligible to be represented if a majority were to vote to be represented by Starbucks Workers United. A Starbucks in West Hartford was the first in Connecticut to petition the National Labor Relations Board to supervise a union representation election.
Mail voting begins May 23 and results at the West Hartford coffee shop will be known June 9.
Mogaddedi said workers at the Vernon store began talking about a union before the pandemic, which shut Starbucks and other retail businesses. Two months ago, workers “ramped up” organizing, she said.
Mogaddedi said a union campaign at a Buffalo, N.Y., Starbucks prompted baristas in Vernon to recognize they “finally have the opportunity” to organize a union and negotiate a contract. Wages of about $15 an hour with just $1 an hour more for senior employees, hours that have been cut to between 12 and 15 from 30 and staffing shortages are the main issues.
Starbucks is fighting attempts to organize its workforce. Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz told industry analysts May 4 that a union contract “will not even come close to what Starbucks offers.” Starbucks has a “constantly expanding list of wages and benefits.”
In a message posted on Starbucks’ website, he said that although not all workers who support unionization “are colluding with outside union forces, the critical point is that I do not believe conflict, division and dissension, which has been a focus of union organizing, benefits Starbucks or our partners.”
The NLRB says workers at 84 Starbucks nationwide have voted on unionization, with 69 backing a union and nine rejecting organized labor. Votes at six coffee shops are being challenged.
Forty-nine elections have been certified for a union to represent the workers, the NLRB said.