50 Starbucks workers in New York are trying to form a union after a 'perfect storm' of understaffing and unhappy customers
- A group of workers in western New York is trying to organize a union.
- Starbucks told Insider it does not think its workers don't need a union due to its pro-worker environment.
- The workers say they want to represent 20 stores in the area to have a voice in company decisions.
Fifty Starbucks workers in the Buffalo, New York area are trying to form a union, which would be a first for the coffee chain.
They formed an organizing committee under the name "Starbucks Workers United," and released a public letter to Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson on Twitter Monday morning, which was picked up by local news outlets.
"We are forming a union to bring out the best in all of us ... Many of us have invested years of our lives in Starbucks, while others have recently become partners. We all have one thing in common -we want the company to succeed and we want our work lives to be the best they can be," the letter reads.
Starbuck told Insider it holds the position that baristas don't need a union due to its pro-worker policies.
"While Starbucks respects the free choice of our partners, we firmly believe that our work environment, coupled with our outstanding compensation and benefits, makes unions unnecessary at Starbucks. We respect our partners' right to organize but believe that they would not find it necessary given our pro-partner environment," a spokesperson told Insider in a phone call.
While there had always been whisperings about organizing a union, conditions in the last few months reached a "perfect storm," Alexis Rizzo, a shift supervisor who has worked at Starbucks for six years, told Insider. The pandemic and consistent understaffing at work were enough to finally push for something concrete, she said.
"Now is a good time. People felt less disposable," Rizzo said. Starbucks stores, like most restaurants across the country, are facing a labor shortage with difficulty attracting and retaining workers. Baristas have previously told Insider about high turnover and few applicants. Some restaurants are so understaffed that they've been forced to close without any workers, while others have turned to incentives like bonuses or free perks for interviewing.
These conditions have seemingly encouraged workers across the service industry to demand higher wages and other improvements, but they're also making things difficult for workers on the job.
"The Starbucks experience we try to deliver is lacking right now," another organizing member, Caroline Lerczak, told Insider. "Lack of product, long waits, understaffed stores - it's hard on baristas and hard on customers."
The union group grew mostly by word of mouth, Rizzo said.
"Starbucks partners have a tight community," so "the news grew slowly but surely." Eventually, the group aims to represent all 20 stores in the Buffalo area, 18 of which are represented in the organizing committee.
To get the process started, committee members contacted the organizers who worked with Spot Coffee, a chain local to Buffalo that voted to unionize in 2019. The Starbucks committee is working with the same labor union, Workers United, whose experience has been "immensely helpful in providing guidance," Rizzo said.
"We want to be able to go back to the place where we were, having fun, not stressed by these outside factors," Lerczak said. That's why they're determined to keep the union campaign positive.
"It's a positive thing, we want to make good changes," Rizzo said. They said that they've been overwhelmed by positive support from the Buffalo community and former Starbucks workers.
"The company calls us partners," Rizzo said. "We want to be real partners."
Do you work at Starbucks? Email this reporter at mmeisenzahl@businessinsider.com.