Valparaiso Starbucks employees seeking unionization
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A Starbucks location in Valparaiso could soon become unionized. Our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana report workers at the LaPorte Avenue coffee shop are asking the National Labor Relations Board for union representation.
If it goes through, the Valparaiso location would be only the second Starbucks in Indiana to become unionized, behind a Clarksville location, which voted to unionize last July.
Workers say they are having trouble paying their bills while Starbucks is seeing record profits, according to the publication.
In November, the company reported record fiscal full-year net revenues of $32.3 billion.
“Our ability to pay our bills, to keep our health insurance, to earn our sick time is diminishing while Starbucks continues to make more money than ever,” the store’s organizing committee said in a statement. “We love our jobs. We want to keep them, but we can’t afford to work here unless conditions are drastically changed. Corporate does not want these changes. Unionizing is our only option.”
A letter to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, signed by a majority of employees at the Valpo store, also asked for better pay and working conditions.
“If we want better conditions for ourselves and to provide better service to our customers, we have to be the ones to create those conditions,” the letter said. “Unionization is the only real avenue for change. For challenging the status quo. For holding ourselves accountable.”
Since December 2021, more than 270 Starbucks stores have voted for unionization.
You can read the full story from The Times of Northwest Indiana by clicking here.