Approximately 100 Starbucks workers in the Buffalo, New York, started on Wednesday to vote whether to unionize, despite efforts of the company to delay the ballot. The results of the vote will be tallied the December 9th.
If the vote, which was approved by the National Labor Relation’s Board, is in favor, the employees will be represented by Workers United, an offshoot of the Service Employees International Union.
Starbucks employees have complained in the media about understaffing, low pay and customer abuse, particularly over corona-virus protocols. In October Starbucks reacted holding out the offer of a 5% raise to employees with more than two years experience and 10% for employees with more than 5 years experience starting in January.
Starbucks sales were up 23% over the last fiscal year for 2021 fiscal year revenues of $29 billion and a net income of $4.2 billion. The company had 349,000 employees in 2020.
Other companies which have seen unionization efforts recently are meal kit delivery service HelloFresh and Amazon.
By Staff
