Starbucks has called on employees in three Northeast locations to reject a measure to form a union, following a victory by a Buffalo-area location that’s spearheading efforts to organize its workers.
The company, which just last week announced plans to hike wages for its U.S. employees, sent a letter on Monday encouraging those workers to vote down a measure to organize. If the effort is successful, three coffee shops in upstate New York would be the first of Starbucks’ 8,000 stores to unionize, part of a wave of pandemic-era support for organized labor.
“We want you to vote no,” wrote Allyson Peck, Starbucks’ Northeast regional Vice President, in a letter shared with Yahoo Finance.
“There’s a lot going on. We want to talk about and connect on the union vote and what it means and doesn’t mean for you, because it has a potentially big impact on your job and your store,” the executive said in the letter.
“Unless you are positive you want to pay a Union to represent you to us, you must vote no. There is no opt out if the majority of voters vote yes, regardless of how you voted,” Peck wrote.
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board sided with workers, rejecting Starbucks’ attempt to hold a single vote with 20 stores in the region.
Mail-in voting is scheduled to start next week, and will run through December 8, with a final vote count on December 9. There are about 128 employees at the three stores that will vote, according to the NLRB decision.
In a statement on Thursday, the Seattle-based coffee giant said it’ll be reviewing the ruling and be evaluating its options.
“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,” the company said.