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The National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday announced that three additional Starbucks locations in Buffalo, N.Y., voted to unionize—following stores at two other locations in the city. (See “STARBUCKS UNIONIZATION: 2022 TOP TREND ON THE RISE.”)
Reggie Borges, a spokesman for the coffee chain, said in a statement that the store will “respect the process and will bargain in good faith guided by our principles. We hope that the union does the same.”
The New York Times reported Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, accused the chain of “systematically cutting hours” to purge itself of veteran employees who are more open to union representation. There have also been allegations that the company has retaliated against pro-union workers.
Starbucks Workers United took to Twitter on Saturday to announce that eight stores have filed for unionization in Buffalo. The group posted a letter from the unions to Kevin Johnson, the president and CEO of the coffee chain.
The letter read in part:
“Since the union campaign launched in late August, we have been micro-managed, threatened, and lied to. Starbucks corporate consistently ignored our voices and ignored what we were telling them we needed. From having a ‘manager’ that trained at our store sexually harass us for four months, the constant lying and gaslighting and false hope from corporate, we are all beyond tired and burnt out. We have been told that we’re replaceable and unimportant in the company. This is not the same company that so many of us have worked for years now.”
Colin Cochran, an employee at one of the Buffalo locations, told NPR that his store first petitioned the company six months ago.
“It’s been a slog of a legal process,” he said. “It shouldn’t be this hard… but at the end of the day, winners win.”
TREND FORECAST: The Trends Journal has reported on the shift to unionization during the COVID-19 outbreak, when major companies saw record profits and stock prices, while the vast majority of their employees toiled in low-paying jobs with little hope of career advancement. (See “UNIONIZATION: TOP TREND FOR 2022, ON-TREND,” “ACTIVISION STUDIO GROUP WILL FORM A UNION, SOLIDIFYING TRENDS JOURNAL FORECAST” and “SPOTLIGHT: WORKERS ON DEMAND.”)