- Workers at a Buffalo Starbucks store have filed a petition to decertify their union.
- The move comes just over a year after the store voted 18-to-1 to form a union.
One of the first Starbucks stores to vote to unionize has filed a petition to end its union.
The store, located in downtown Buffalo, New York, would remove Workers United as its representative in negotiations with Starbucks, Bloomberg Law reported. Before that can happen, workers at the store must vote in an election to approve the action.
The store, located at the intersection of Delaware Avenue and Chippewa in Buffalo and referred to as the "Del-Chip" location, voted 18-to-1 for a union in April 2022, Quartz reported. It was among the first Starbucks stores in the country where employees voted to have union representation.
A spokesperson for Workers United did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the petition from Insider. A spokesperson for Workers United told TV station WGRZ that Starbucks had launched an "illegal union-busting campaign" at the store.
"Almost every union leader at the store was fired or forced out because of the environment of intimidation and fear that Starbucks management created," the spokesperson said. "In fact, the company is currently being prosecuted for the discriminatory treatment of workers at the Del-Chip store."
A Starbucks spokesperson told Insider: "The allegations are false. Starbucks policy strictly prohibits any retaliatory behavior directed toward partners who are interested in a union."
The spokesperson added that the employees no longer employed at the store "were separated following admitting to clear violations of policies — not related to, or in retaliation for, any protected concerted activities." On the decertification petition, she added that Starbucks wants "to ensure partners can trust their voice is heard and the process is fair."
Under federal law, workers can file a petition for decertification without citing a reason, Bloomberg Law reported.
According to Workers United, about 300 Starbucks stores around the US have voted to unionize. The first store to unionize was also in Buffalo in late 2021. The Del-Chip store is the third to file a decertification petition, according to Bloomberg Law.
Under federal law, workers can submit a petition and hold an election to decertify a union at least one year after their union was certified. Both of the other stores, one in Georgia and another in Oklahoma, submitted petitions sooner than that one-year mark, so neither held a decertification vote.
No Starbucks store has reached an agreement with the company on a contract, according to Bloomberg Law.
In March, US Senator Bernie Sanders and other members of the US Senate's Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions questioned former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz about the chain's approach to unions. Schultz said that Starbucks had never broken the law, despite an administrative law judge's finding that it had violated labor statutes, including by monitoring and firing workers, the New York Times reported.
Starbucks' reputation as a progressive employer has changed in recent years. In 2022, the US public's support for labor unions hit a historic high as skepticism of big corporations grew, according to data from Gallup.
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