Bloomington Starbucks store votes to unionize
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The number of unionized Starbucks stores in Indiana has risen to three.
Workers at the Eastside Bloomington location voted 14-0 to form a union after organizers pointed to corporate accountability, the instability of healthcare and scheduled hours, and the stripping of a Pride flag flying outside the store as motivation.
“Our unanimous decision only goes to show that the way this company is being run is unacceptable to its workers, depriving us of our dignity and our ability to make a living,” barista and organizer Stefanie Sharp said in an Aug. 10 news release. “We have come completely united and now demand that the company come and sit at the bargaining table in good faith.”
Tuesday’s vote solidifies the union’s existence at the store. It will now hold greater power to negotiate contracts with Starbucks and make decisions in the store. National collective Starbucks Workers United said on its website employees will have bargaining power once the National Labor Relations Board certifies the union, which takes place about a week after a passing vote.
“Having a contract will give us due process and our elected worker representatives (called shop stewards) a way to stand up for our interests,” Starbucks Workers United said on its website. “Without a union, Starbucks corporate has the final say and is essentially the judge and jury of their own case.”
The workers announced their intentions to unionize in late June with a public letter signed by 13 employees addressed to CEO Laxman Narasimhan. At that time, paperwork with NLRB was filed.
The store joins Indiana stores in Clarksville and Valparaiso. Over 345 stores in 41 states and Washington D.C. have unionized since the first did so in Buffalo, New York, in late 2021. Starbucks operates around 9,300 stores; 220 of which are in the Hoosier state.
In the release, Starbucks Workers United said the NLRB has filed over 100 complaints against the company for 1,900 violations of federal labor law.
The store is one of six brick-and-mortar Starbucks locations in Bloomington.
Workers at the Bloomington and Clarksville store spoke with Inside INdiana Business about their concerns, grievances and demands in July.