Workers United News

News and Updates for Starbucks Workers United

We just wrapped our convention in Cleveland, Ohio, and if you were there, you know it was a wild success. Over 400 members representing 13 joint boards attended from across the United States and Canada. We took care of business, passed pivotal resolutions, and heard from amazing speakers, including Bishop William Barber II and our very own international president, Lynne Fox.

Workers United – SEIU joins the global labor movement in strongly condemning the murder of Shahidul Islam, an organizer who was killed for standing up for the rights of garment workers in Bangladesh. Shahidul was a senior organizer with the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF) and President of BGIWF’s Gazipur district committee. Shahidul was beaten to death in retaliation for supporting workers at the Prince Jacquard Sweater Ltd. factory, where BGIWF had been organizing for the last few months. Workers United – SEIU expresses its deepest sympathies to the family of Shahidul Islam and to our sisters and brothers at BGIWF. We stand in solidarity with these courageous leaders fighting for respect and dignity at work.

The union backing organizing efforts at Starbucks is creating a $1 million fund to cover lost pay for baristas who go on strike, giving workers more firepower in their fight to unionize.

Employees at four Philadelphia Starbucks stores voted to unionize on Wednesday, joining dozens of others across the United States. At least 80 Starbucks stores have voted to form a union with Workers United and scores more have petitioned to unionize, said Alex Riccio, a staff organizer at the union who organized the Philly campaigns.

Our hearts ache for the mothers and fathers who lost their children, and the entire community of Uvalde, Texas who lost 19 children and two adults to a teenage murderer who had access to guns.