BUFFALO, N.Y. — Three Western New York Starbucks locations have won the right to vote to unionize.
What You Need To Know
- Stores on Elmwood Ave., Camp Rd. and Genesee St. submitted petitions to the National Labor Relations Board to unionize in August
- They were granted the opportunity to vote by the NLRB as of Wednesday
- Voting begins in November
Locations on Elmwood Avenue, Camp Road and Genesee Street submitted petitions to unionize in August to the National Labor Relations Board. On Wednesday, the board decided to give them the opportunity to vote as individual stores in a mail-in election that starts in November.
If successful, this would make them the first of 8,000 U.S. Starbucks locations to unionize.
“I hope that it’s a domino effect and that the company recognizes that this is the will of their employees, this is the will of their partners,” said Michelle Eisen, who has worked for the company for 11 years.
Starbucks responded to the decision in a statement, saying:
"Our success - past, present and future - is built on how we partner together and lift each other up, always with Our Mission and Values at our core. Our storied success has come from our working directly together as partners, without a third party between us. We remain focused on supporting our partners as well as maintaining open, transparent and direct conversations throughout the process. We just received the ruling, and we are evaluating our options."
Voting takes place Nov. 10 through Dec. 8.
