Starbucks Employees
at Buffalo Store, Vote To Unionize.
The results of the vote were announced by the National Labor Relations Board on Dec. 9.
Of the 9,000 Starbucks locations in the U.S..
the store in the Buffalo, NY, area is the
first to vote to unionize.
Two other stores in Buffalo are conducting similar votes with results that should be determined soon.
The vote to unionize at the Starbucks location follows several months of worker frustration over difficult working conditions.
which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
Starbucks went
to great lengths
to prevent
the unionization.
sending high-level executives and out-of-state district managers to the location in order to
hold discussions with the employees.
According to 'The New York Times,'.
video captured one district manager saying the company had asked her to go to Buffalo to
"save it" from the union vote.
Employees at the store described company tactics to prevent unionization...
... such as excessive staffing in order to disrupt the vote and the closure of stores.
Such tactics are known as "packing" and are common when companies are under threat of employee unionization.
Starbucks claims these actions were an effort to increase efficiency and remodel stores
