Starbucks Workers in Hialeah Begin Union Drive, A First For South Florida
By Julia Echikson February 15, 2022 7:08 pm
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Starbucks workers in Hialeah, Fla. are looking to unionize, a first for the coffee chain in South Florida.
This week, employees handed over union cards to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency tasked with enforcing labor laws, according to WLRN. The move is the first step required to trigger an election over whether workers want a union.
To explain the reasoning for the union, one store employee told WLRN that wages hadn’t kept up with rent increases in the region and that servicing orders for delivery apps had increased the workload.
The move in Hialeah is just the latest in a growing movement. After the staff of two Starbucks in Buffalo, N.Y. voted to unionize last December, workers at least 60 Starbucks locations have launched union campaigns, including stores in Seattle, Memphis, Tallahassee and New York City.
Starbucks has encouraged employees to vote no, and is fighting against the unionization efforts. “We don’t believe having a union will meaningfully change or solve the problems you’ve identified in your stores,” the company wrote on a website dedicated to fighting the union drive.
The coffee giant also touts its benefits on the website, which includes covering the cost of college tuition, offering parental leave, and a premium subscription to Spotify.
Last week, Starbucks fired seven employees involved in the union effort in Memphis, for participating in TV interviews inside a store after hours.
Representatives for both Starbucks and NLRB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Julia Echikson can be reached at Jechikson@commercialobserver.com.
