Broken Machines, Understaffing: Parsippany Starbucks Workers Share Why They're Unionizing

PARSIPPANY, NJ — Citing staffing concerns and broken equipment at their coffee shop, two employees at a Parsippany Starbucks said they are hopeful their vote to unionize will give them more of a voice in company decisions.

The Troy Hills Starbucks at 1429 Route 46 voted to unionize on Thursday, becoming the second store in Morris County (and the sixth in the state) to join Starbucks Workers United.

There are 27 employees at this store, and the vote was 16-0, according to two members of the organizing committee who spoke with Patch. The National Labor Relations Board must next certify the outcome of the election.

Nath Garavito and Ness Perez said that their busy store often has broken machines that don't get fixed quickly, and that employees get overwhelmed on some shifts because there aren't enough people scheduled to work.

"Sometimes it feels like the amount of business that we get almost exceeds what the physical building, the property, and the equipment that we have is capable of handling," Perez said, adding, "The ordering screen at our drive-thru has been broken for, like, a week."

Perez, a barista, and Garavito, a recently-promoted shift supervisor, said they hope forming a union will help them advocate for their stores' needs to Starbucks' corporate decision makers, and create a better experience across the board.

"It's really inspiring to see partners come together and use their rights, and also for the company to be respecting our right to organize as we move into contract negotiations," said Garavito. "Because at the end of the day, we do want the same things, which is to improve this company and to create those experiences for our customers, and just making a better Starbucks for everyone."

Both Perez and Garavito said they think Starbucks is trying to standardize policies and layouts for their locations, and not take individual stores' needs into account.

"What works for one store isn't necessarily going to work for another store," said Perez. "So we want more of a voice in having a say in what changes come to our store."

Garavito said that the company's system to manage employee hours does not always seem to match up to what is needed, adding that the baristas and other team members can't meet customers' expectations if the store doesn't have enough workers.

"And that's kind of what we mean," they said, "That it feels like everything is becoming standardized, and is not allowing us to run this facility, our store, specifically to the best that it could possibly be run."

This Starbucks was among 18 stores that sent a letter to company CEO Laxman Narasimhan last week, declaring their intent to form a union and calling for better pay, more consistent scheduling, and improved benefits.

The wave of movements to organize began in Buffalo, N.Y., where workers at two stores voted to unionize in late 2021. Now, Starbucks Workers United estimates there are more than 10,500 workers who have unionized with Starbucks across 440 locations nationwide.

In a statement, Starbucks said they are "committed to delivering on our promise to offer a bridge to a better future to all Starbucks partners.”

In total, the company says 4 percent of U.S. stores are represented by a union.

Starbucks is working on a framework with Workers United to form the basis of store contracts at unionized locations, both the company and the union have said. This came after both the coffee chain and the union sued one another last October, in a standoff sparked by a social media post over the Israel-Hamas war.

"At Starbucks we believe that our direct relationship as partners is core to the experiences we create in our stores, and we respect our partners' rights to have a choice on the topic of unions," their statement to Patch said.