Workers at the Starbucks coffeehouse in Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market are planning to join a union.

The location’s baristas filed for their union election on April 3, according to Starbucks Workers United, the union already representing thousands of store employees.

“Our store management has gotten worse and failed to uphold promises to our partners,” Nailah Diaz, a barista at the Pike Place Market location, said in a statement Monday. “We are facing unfair treatment and operational issues without the support needed to succeed.”

Those pressures pushed the employees to organize, Diaz said.

“Filing a petition is simply the start of a process,” Starbucks spokesperson Kati Stadum said Monday in response to the news.

Starbucks and the union returned to the bargaining table this month for the first time this year, according to Workers United.

Employee asks include an hourly minimum wage of $17 and a commitment to keeping three employees “on the floor at all times.”

However, following the meeting, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board on April 8, for “bargaining in bad faith,” according to a copy of the form obtained by The Seattle Times.

“Starbucks has returned to the bargaining table, but its behavior hasn’t improved,” a Workers United spokesperson said Monday. “We filed a ULP over the company’s attempt to illegally withdraw from seven signed tentative agreements previously achieved through months of bargaining.”

The coffee giant has also filed an unfair labor practice charge against the union tied to its alleged cold shoulder during bargaining.

Separately, Starbucks scored a win in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Friday when it quashed an order by the National Labor Relations Board because the federal agency used the incorrect legal approach to scrutinize an unfair labor practice complaint.

Starbucks is changing under CEO Brian Niccol, whose Back to Starbucks plan puts the focus on the coffeehouse experience.

Stadum highlighted the company’s recent announcement of its new incentive rewards program for hourly coffeehouse employees, which entails potential $300 quarterly bonuses and tipping alternatives.

“These updates will roll out to non-union stores later this year and, as required by law, are subject to bargaining for the approximately 5% of U.S. stores represented by a union,” Stadum said in a statement.

For nonunionized stores, the new policy will take effect in July.

Still, Starbucks and the union have had a combative relationship.

Nationwide, over 200 coffeehouses went on strike in November, with workers pushing for more hours, increased take-home pay and the resolution of labor law violations. The majority of the striking employees were back at work in December.

As part of Niccol’s restructuring plans, stores have shuttered over the past six months: five in Seattle this year, on top of more than 30 across Washington in 2025. Last year, hundreds of stores across the conti…

为什么值得关注

能改变理解方式，而不只是重复常识；符合当前抓取需求；它提供了新的理解或解释，而不只是表面观点

来源：reddit，领域：news，保留分：0.65