Reading Starbucks Workers To Vote On Union Effort

READING, MA — Workers at a Starbucks location on Main Street in Reading will vote on Monday to decide whether to join a union, according to local organizers.

Just over a month after filing papers with the National Labor Relations Board to begin this process, local Starbucks workers are preparing to vote amid larger union efforts and conversations across the state and the country. At least a dozen Starbucks stores in Massachusetts had unionized as of mid-July, according to Eater Boston.

A Starbucks in Buffalo was previously the first location in the country to unionize back in December, kicking off a wave that now has led to more than 200 unionized locations.

The Starbucks store at 288 Main Street is one of two Starbucks in Reading. It will be closed on Monday as store workers cast their votes.

Reading Starbucks workers at 288 Main Street previously participated in a “sip in” demonstration earlier this month, joining stores in Gardner, Boston, Brookline, Watertown and Worcester in protesting a decision by Starbucks to roll out a new benefits package that excluded union workers.

Before that, they outlined concerns in their petition to unionize, citing labor and product shortages, difficult working conditions and company policies that they said limited managers’ ability to respond to worker concerns.

Workers said on Saturday that they are anticipating a live vote count over Zoom on Monday afternoon around 5 p.m. after they cast their votes.