Arizona Starbucks becomes 1st outside New York to unionize: 'A landslide victory'

PHOENIX (AP) - Employees at a Phoenix-area Starbucks voted Friday to form a union, becoming the first store outside New York to organize.

Several workers from a Mesa Starbucks store cheered and hugged at a local union hall after the results came in. Workers were overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing, voting 25-3. Forty-three ballots in total were initially mailed out, organizers said.

"The way that we smoked them with how many we got — yeses — that really shows that this is really a movement for people and we just want what is kind of an inalienable right for people," said Liz Alanna, a shift supervisor at the store. "It feels good what we were fighting for, everybody wanted."

Starbucks "will respect the process and will bargain in good faith," spokesman Reggie Borges said in an email.

"We hope that the union does the same," he added.

Pro-union leaders say Starbucks workers deserve the right to collectively bargain on issues like benefits, seniority pay and pandemic safety protocols.

Tyler Ralston, another shift supervisor, said he is excited that workers now may be able to make meaningful changes.

"We would like to be able to not feel understaffed. We would like to have better working conditions, having things fixed on time. A pension of course would be a great thing," Ralston said.

Originally scheduled for last week, the election was postponed after Starbucks filed a request for a review with the Washington, D.C.-based National Labor Relations Board.

The Seattle-based coffee giant argued that a single store should not be allowed to hold a vote. Instead, a vote should include all the locations in that store’s assigned district.

The labor board denied the request, saying it did not see any issues.

The organizers in Mesa called the request a "union busting" tactic by the company, Alanna said. She also alleged Starbucks implemented other strategies like having upper-level managers shadow workers to make sure they weren’t organizing.

Borges, the Starbucks spokesman, called accusations of union-busting "categorically false."

The Starbucks in Mesa is now the first to unionize outside of Buffalo, New York, where organizing efforts first took off.

Over 65 stores in 20 states have filed petitions with the labor board to hold union elections since two in Buffalo unionized in the last few months, according to labor union Workers United.

Starbucks officials have spoken against unionizing, asserting the company functions best when it can work directly with its employees. Some workers have disputed that claim.

Efforts to form unions have led to tense conflict. Earlier this month, seven Starbucks workers were fired after spearheading a union campaign in Memphis, Tennessee. The company said they violated policy by reopening a store after closing time, inviting non-employees inside and doing TV interviews from there.

Employees countered that Starbucks was retaliating and said they planned to file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

After decades of decline, unions have become a popular strategy. Multiple polls show union approval is high — and growing — among younger workers. U.S. union membership levels are ticking upward for workers between 25 and 34, even as they decline among other age groups, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

'With a union, you don’t have to be scared'

When the 25-3 vote came down, several workers from the Mesa Starbucks cheered and hugged. Workers say they’re relieved and glad to now have a seat at the table when it comes to bargaining issues like pay, pensions, and working conditions.

Other Starbucks stores in Arizona are wanting to do the same. So far, a location in Scottsdale and another in Phoenix, say they have filed their paperwork.

"I think the fact of how it is scary is part of why we need to do this. With a union, you don’t have to be scared. Without a union, you are entirely at the mercy of whatever company you work for. They have the final say, they have the first say, so it’s impossible not to be terrified when they have all the power," said Isaac Feilbach, a Starbucks barista at 7th Street and Bell Road.

Employees at the 7th Street and Bell Road location will move onto a couple of hearings and eventually a vote to see whether they will get approval to become unionized or not.

Tyler Ralston, a shift supervisor at the now unionized location, says, "So our store just won our unionization vote, 25 to 3, a landslide victory, so now we actually have the ability to fight for our rights as a worker."

He adds, "We are fighting for better working conditions, better pay, credit card tipping is something that we’d like to have, a pension, just more dignity and respect in the workplace."

The idea is welcomed news to its customers, like Rosie Montano. She drove all the way from San Diego to order a frappuccino in Mesa to show her support, even asking to write the word "union" on the side of the cup.

"Super excited for the workers more than anything and just super excited for what’s to come because I know that this is just the start of a new beginning just like a domino effect," Montano said.

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