Workers United News

Workers at a Starbucks Corp. store in Seattle will hold a unionization vote, giving the labor group that recently won landmark New York elections a chance to expand its new foothold to the coffee giant’s hometown.

The effort to unionize Starbucks workers is one of the country's most closely-watched labor organizing drives in years. On Wednesday, that effort was temporarily put on hold.

Employees at a suburban Milwaukee Starbucks outlet on Friday joined a national wave of union organizing at the Seattle-based coffeehouse chain, citing wages as well as concerns about employee safety, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A company spokesman said the workers had violated several policies. The union organizing stores accused Starbucks of retaliation.

Starbucks fired seven workers who were involved in unionizing in Memphis, Tennessee, fueling accusations that the company is retaliating against a growing labor movement at its locations across the United States.

Seven Starbucks workers were fired at the Starbucks, 3388 Poplar Ave. — located off Poplar and Highland, as of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, including nearly the entire union organizing committee, according to a news release from Starbucks Workers United.