Reading Starbucks Workers Say ‘No’ To Union In Final Vote Count

READING, MA — A union effort at a Starbucks store at 288 Main Street in Reading ended for the time being on Wednesday, with organizers announcing their updated vote tally just over two weeks after a set of challenged ballots left them with no result on their union vote day last month.

The final count went 9-7 against unionization.

Organizers took to Twitter in making their announcement, vowing to continue organizing efforts in Reading.

“This is not the end,” they wrote.

Workers in Reading petitioned to trigger a union vote back in June, citing a variety of concerns as they joined a wave of Starbucks locations across the region and the country that have taken similar unionization steps.

Then came Aug. 15, where the National Labor Relations Board facilitated an in-person vote by store employees at their location. The initial count ended 7-4 against unionization, with Starbucks challenging five ballots. That triggered a hearing to decide whether the challenged ballots should count toward the final union decision.

This week’s update indeed added five ballots to the vote total. Though the margin of victory for the “no” side narrowed, it held nonetheless.

Patch has reached out to Starbucks for comment on the Reading unionization effort.

In the meantime, store worker and organizer Julie Langevin said she feels the decision against a union was at least in part prompted by larger Starbucks actions.

“Many of our partners were scared to lose their jobs and their benefits, and are now afraid to stand up for themselves,” Langevin told Patch on Wednesday. “They had just begun to find, and use, their voices to demand that they get a say in what happens to them. This is how Corporate America wins.”

Starbucks has faced some criticism and complaints about its handling of union efforts at its stores, with the Labor Relations Board recently saying that Starbucks illegally withheld raises from a number of union workers involved in recent organizing.

Starbucks has voiced its own criticism, petitioning to halt all union elections in its stores over allegations that Labor Relations Board personnel improperly coordinated with union organizers.

Locally, this “no” vote at the 288 Main Street Reading Starbucks pauses formal union efforts at the store for now. Organizers still interested in unionizing will be able to refile their petition after a one-year waiting period.