This week, workers at the Higley & Baseline Starbucks in Gilbert, Arizona, filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to unionize with Starbucks Workers United. The Higley & Baseline partners (employees) are joining a nationwide movement of hundreds of stores and thousands of baristas organizing for better working conditions. Workers at the McQueen & Guadalupe location in Gilbert successfully unionized in April.
Workers sent a letter to Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan to announce their organizing campaign. In the letter, workers explained they’re unionizing as “Starbucks has made it abundantly clear that profit will come before all else, including its partners. Without hesitation, Starbucks has cut hours, restricted benefits, and established a culture of ‘assembly line’ work.”
“We have spent countless hours, days, months, and years working for a company that promises to be a “bridge to a better future” while they do the complete opposite,” said Ash Rotar, a barista and organizer at the Gilbert location. “I’m tired of being told I should hate my job.”
Starbucks has launched a ruthless union-busting campaign that includes firing over 230 union leaders across the country and shuttering union stores. The NLRB has issued over 80 official Complaints against the company, encompassing over 1,400 violations of federal labor law.
Starbucks Workers United is the union drive that has taken the labor movement by storm, with more new unions formed in 12 months than any US company in the last 20 years. There are now over 300 Starbucks stores in 38 states and the District of Columbia that have successfully unionized.
