Another Starbucks In Queens Files For A Union

QUEENS – A Starbucks in Maspeth filed a petition for a union election with Workers United NY/NJ, making it the third location in Queens to file for a union.

Workers at the Shops at Grand location at 74-25 Grand Avenue sent a letter to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz in Monday saying: “We are the ones who can make your sales happen, yet we are being treated as if we are not the ones who are the reason this company still stands along with your customers.”

The filing comes as the flagship NYC Roastery, the first New York City Starbucks to unionize earlier this year, enters its twenty-first day of striking. Workers at the location are picketing over bed bugs and black mold inside the Meatpacking District Starbucks.

In June, the Starbucks located at 22-28 31st St. in Astoria voted to unionize, which came less than a month after workers at the 30-18 Astoria Blvd. store voted in favor of unionizing.

A worker at the Maspeth location said: “We shouldn’t be undermined because we don’t have it as ‘tough’ compared to other fast food chains.”

Another employee said: “We feel that management does not adequately address our needs as workers, which is enabled by the fact that management does not have to follow the same rules and standards we as workers are held to.”