More Starbucks workers file for union elections

One day before the ballots were to go out to workers at three Buffalo-area Starbucks in a vote on unionization, more workers from three other stores in the area filed petitions on Tuesday requesting union elections as well. The coming vote is crucial because none of the 9,000 corporate-owned  Starbucks stores in the country are unionized. Starbucks filed a motion on Monday to stay the mailing of ballots while it appeals a ruling by a regional official of the National Labor Relations Board, setting up separate votes at the three locations where workers filed for union elections. The company wants all of the 20 Buffalo-area stores to vote in a single election. This is an approach that would usually favor the employer. 

The first three stores filed for union elections in August and Starbucks dispatched managers and senior officials to the areas in the weeks that followed in what was said was an effort to fix operational issues. However, the workers complained that the out-of-state officers were intimidating, surveyed workers and filed an unfair labor practice charge. The union also contends that Starbucks transferred in or hired a number of additional employees at two of the three stores to dilute union support. 

Source: The New York Times