Workers At Downtown Providence Starbucks Vote To Unionize

PROVIDENCE, RI — Workers at a Starbucks store in downtown Providence have agreed to form a union, making it the location of the popular coffee chain to organize in Rhode Island.

Specifically, employees at the store at 1 Financial Plaza pointed to living wages, fair scheduling, safe working conditions, and "a commitment to quality and culture that reflects the Starbucks brand they built" as reasons for their union. Workers voted 13-0 in favor of the union, Starbucks Workers United representatives said.

"I’m so excited to be in solidarity with workers across the globe who are fighting for our rights," Hannah Gentley said, who has worked for Starbucks for the last two-and-a-half years.

Starbucks spokesperson Andrew Trull said the company is "committed to engaging in good faith collective bargaining for each store where a union has been appropriately certified."

"As a company, we respect our partners' right to organize, freely associate, engage in lawful union activities and bargain collectively without fear of reprisal or retaliation," Trull said. "While we continue to believe we can do more to elevate the partner experience at Starbucks by working shoulder-to-shoulder than across a negotiating table, we respect our partners' decision at our One Financial Plaza store to elect union representation."

Trull said agreeing to a contract could take more than a year. Before negotiations can begin, the National Labor Relations Board must certify the union election results, and both parties will have the right to challenge ballots, according to Trull.

Union organizers said that some 9,000 baristas have joined Starbucks Workers United across the country, and called the work "one of the most successful campaigns in decades."

"We workers are igniting a fire of resistance and power for all workers in Rhode Island and everywhere in the country," store employee Juani Cantu said.

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