Park Slope Starbucks Workers Push To Unionize, Joining National Trend

PARK SLOPE, NY — Employees at a Starbucks cafe in Park Slope have filed a petition to form a union, organizers announced on Tuesday, making it the latest shop to be swept up in the nationwide trend.

Employees at the Starbucks located on 4th Avenue and 11th Street have submitted a union petition to the National Labor Relations Board, as reported by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.

If successful, the employees will become part of this union.

“We’re unionizing because we believe in democracy," said Victoria Blair, a 2-year Starbucks employee who works at the Park Slope location. "Our daily lives are subject to the whims of monolithic institutions that prioritize profits over human lives and make decisions without the consent of those they govern and without input from the people most affected by their decisions."

A majority of the store's employees have signed cards requesting a union election, according to a Workers United spokesperson.

At least 490 Starbucks locations nationwide have seen their workers file for unions since the movement began in New York, according to a tracker by Perfect Union.

"Starbucks has made a habit of prioritizing sales and profits over partner safety," reads an open letter to Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan, signed by the shop's baristas. "Despite our willingness to work regardless of this disregard for our health and safety, we have been met with higher and higher expectations without being given the resources to meet them."

In requesting a seat at the bargaining table, the employees cited the difficulties of working during the pandemic, violent threats from customers, and unsafe weather conditions.

They asked Narasimhan to recognize the union and commit to allowing a fair vote.

"We are unionizing because we want that to change and believe that we can change that through workplace democratization and the collective power of laborers united in a common cause," Blair said.

Requests from staff at the unionized New York City shops have included:

• pay increases for the augmentation of their responsibilities due to the pandemic
• higher quality training
• more consistent scheduling
• health and safety improvements
• protection of benefits for part-time workers

Workers at 391 Starbucks locations nationwide have won their union petitions, according to a tracker by Perfect Union. The movement began in Buffalo, N.Y., where workers at two stores voted to unionize in late 2021, despite efforts by Starbucks to dissuade them from doing so.

Resistance from corporate has sometimes resulted in strikes and hundreds of federal complaints of union busting.

“Across the country, management is cutting hours, writing inconsistent and unreliable schedules, and placing more and more work on fewer and fewer partners,” the workers wrote. “We ‘partners’ demand a say. We are the face of Starbucks. As employees, we deserve the same respect and dignity as the CEO.”

More than 20 stores filed for union elections today, including stores in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, North Dakota, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

The mass filing was part of ongoing grassroots efforts by Starbucks workers who are organizing and taking direct action, urging Starbucks to cease its illegal union-busting campaign and negotiate a contract in good faith, according to Workers United.

Unionized Starbucks employees and federal labor regulators have repeatedly accused the corporation of illegal union busting.

In more than fifty separate decisions, federal administrative law judges have found that Starbucks has committed more than 400 violations of federal labor law, including dozens of unlawful firings, refusal to bargain, and denying benefits and wage increases to union members that are offered at non-union stores.