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Starbucks employees at three separate stores in Buffalo, New York, will be allowed to hold union elections starting next month after a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling, according to the Associated Press.
The board rejected Starbucks' attempt to hold a single vote with 20 stores in the region. If approved, the three stores in Buffalo would be the first in the 8,000-store chain to unionize.
Michelle Eisen, an 11-year Starbucks veteran in Buffalo and a member of the union organizing group, Starbucks Workers United, is happy with the ruling.
"It's been disappointing to see Starbucks working overtime to try to stop us from organizing, but today's decision is a big win and soon we're going to have an even bigger victory when we vote our union in," Eisen said.
Starbucks, which opposes the effort to unionize, released a statement Thursday addressing the NLRB ruling.
"Our storied success has come from our working directly together as partners, without a third party between us," Starbucks said. "We remain focused on supporting our partners as well as maintaining open, transparent and direct conversations throughout the process."
The unionizing effort follows others of Deere & Co. workers, United Auto Workers and Kellogg Co.'s U.S. cereal plant workers who have recently called for unions or went on strike.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Starbucks said Thursday evening that it had just received the ruling and was evaluating its options. The company reported record fiscal fourth quarter revenue of $8.1 billion earlier Thursday and had announced a $1 billion effort to raise U.S. workers' pay.
The NLRB said the union elections will be held by mail-in ballot between November 10 and December 8. The NLRB will count the ballots on December 9.
There are about 128 employees at the three stores that will vote, according to the NLRB decision.
Starbucks Workers United has the backing of the broader Workers United union, which represents 86,000 U.S. and Canadian workers in food service, textiles and other industries. Workers United is an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.
Meanwhile, Amazon workers in New York are seeking to hold a union vote. Amazon workers in Alabama overwhelmingly rejected an effort to form a union there in April.
