Last Updated on December 20, 2022, 11:37 AM | Published: February 15, 2022
NICHOLS HILLS, OKLA. (Free Press) — A majority of baristas who work at the Starbucks near N.W. 63rd and Grand in Nichols Hills have become the first Starbucks crew in Oklahoma to call for a union election under National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rules.
The baristas have been signing cards to ask for an election. By Tuesday evening, what a union spokesman described as an “overwhelming majority” of the baristas at the store have petitioned to be represented by SBWorkers United, a nationwide union for Starbucks baristas.
The established store is in what is considered to be a financially high-end set of neighborhoods that comprise the two square miles of The City of Nichols Hills on the north side of the metro. The city is surrounded on all sides by either the City of Oklahoma City or The City of the Village.
They join a nationwide swell of demands for union elections across 93 stores in the chain.
Baristas speak up
Will Westlake, a barista at Starbucks in Buffalo, NY, is functioning as the 63rd and Grand baristas’ spokesperson during this time of organizing. He exchanged messages with Free Press Tuesday.
He shared this statement by a barista at the 63rd and Grand Starbucks:
Organizing my store means a variety of things: a livable wage, better benefits, more secure recourse against customers whose actions shouldn’t be tolerated in any establishment, etc. But it’s more than what we want at a negotiating table. It means a peace of mind and an assurance that when our company says we have a seat at the table, we do. For too long we’ve been called “partners” but it’s a title that doesn’t hold much weight. Organizing will ensure that it does for everyone in this store, state, and company.
Alyssa Sperrazza
Push for a vote
If the baristas — who the company calls “partners” — get the vote and have a strong enough election, then their union membership in that store’s local would be recognized by the NLRB and the company would be forced to engage in collective bargaining with the baristas.
This follows a nation-wide push to organize by Starbucks baristas to join Starbucks Workers United after years of settling for venting their frustrations in message boards and chat rooms which changed nothing in their daily work environment. The workers petitioning for a union vote have formed the organization with the help of the union Workers United that has represented a number of laborers over the years.
In a series of messages to Free Press, Westlake explained the process:
- SBWorkers United will only file for an election if an “overwhelming” majority of the workers sign cards requesting an election. The NLRB only requires 30%.
- Starbucks has been contesting requests for an election which then requires a hearing, thus the need for a strong, convincing majority.
- See the NLRB page for a chart of the process.
- The NLRB has already ruled in the past that single stores can vote, and can do so in the future.
- “After the election, we will ask the company to begin bargaining immediately, where baristas of the store will elect people to a bargaining committee to negotiate with the company,” said Westlake.
Westlake said that one barista at the Nichols Hills store contacted the union about two weeks ago. Eventually more did also and that is what has led to this time of signing cards that ask for an election.
“The company likes to scare people about dues, but we don’t have to pay them until after a contract is signed,” Weslake said. “This helps to make sure we negotiate benefits that offset, and create a better system than the one we have right now.”
Westlake was on the organizing committee for his Starbucks in Buffalo when it voted successfully to unionize.
“Contracts have to be ratified by a majority of partners at the store, and it’s partners who are leading negotiations with the company,” he said.
Nationwide effort
For the last five to ten years it has not be difficult to find message boards and then later chat rooms where Starbucks baristas have come to blow off steam and share strategies for dealing with what some have said is a fast-food company with a sophisticated appearance.
Before the pandemic and growing even worse as people begin to venture back out, customers have attacked Starbucks baristas online and face-to-face forcing baristas to endure verbal and even physical abuse by customers only to be blamed by the company for the encounter and in some cases fired.
Some baristas have started finding success in seeking to be recognized as a union and engaging in collective bargaining.
Company working to stop trend
Starbucks has worked diligently to project an image of a company that is collaborative and caring of its employees. And, to read the accounts of the early days of the company starting in Oregon and spreading to neighboring states that appears to be true.
But, as the chain has rapidly expanded to most large cities across the U.S., the experiences of baristas have changed and made life for many a grind no different from other fast food chains.
Now, union advocates are using their recent experiences with other Starbucks locations to prepare the baristas at the 63rd and Grand store and in other locations in the metro.
“Partners at Nichols Hills, and all around OKC, are going to start seeing increased presence of management,” said Westlake. “Starbucks has been using emergency text services and one on one meetings to try to influence partners to vote no.”
In a prepared news release late Tuesday, Westlake said, “The 63rd & Grand store filed their union petitions despite Starbucks’ continued aggressive anti-union campaign around the country. Starbucks continues to host mandatory anti-union meetings, send in corporate representatives and outside managers to spy on workers, and use legal maneuvers to delay elections for as long as possible. Partners have called on Starbucks to end their anti-union crusade and respect their right to organize.”
The company is taking current developments seriously. They recently set up a website intended to tip employee thinking back toward the company’s point of view called “We Are One Starbucks.”
“We know that some partners are considering unionizing and know that you may have questions about that,” reads the website. “We do not believe unions are necessary at Starbucks because we know that the real issues are solved through our direct partnership with one another.”
Company response to local developments
When Free Press reached out to the company for comment, a spokesperson for Starbucks responded with a phone call within the hour.
“Our view is that we respect our partners’ right to organize,” said Sarah Albanesi, who responded to our request for a company comment. “And, what we’re doing is in the store, that do file petitions with the NLRB, the local leaders, so the store manager, and the district manager, will connect with the partners in the store.”
“And so, what has been happening in the stores across the country that file petitions is the local leadership will be present to answer any questions the partners may have,” continued Albanesi. “And [to] give them all the information they need to make a decision on things like, you know, providing educational resources on things like what collective bargaining is, what union dues are, what joining a union means, and then also trying to, you know, just remind partners and share information about what benefits are currently available to them.”
We learned that the Starbucks corporation has contracted with the management advocacy law firm Littler Mendelson, P.C. to represent them before the NLRB.
Free Press will continue to follow this story as it develops further toward an election in a couple of months.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
