NLRB schedules Nichols Hills Starbucks for May 6 union election

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OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — Baristas at the 63rd and Grand Starbucks in Nichols Hills now have an election scheduled by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to decide if they will be represented by a union.

The election will be May 6.

A majority of the store’s employees signed petition cards by mid-February to ask the NLRB to hold a vote. They were the first ones in the state to win that stage of the process.

At first some baristas in that store thought that the company would appeal for a hearing before the NLRB, which was what the company has done in the past. Earlier, the corporation has appealed for a hearing which stretched out the timeline. Also, the company was asking for votes to be taken by district rather than by store which the employees thought would make it harder for them to win.

However, the NLRB has consistently refused to grant the company’s requests and has authorized store-level votes.

In the case of the Nichols Hills store, Starbucks did not appeal for a hearing allowing the vote to be scheduled without a hearing.

If the employees win the election in May, they will be able to negotiate pay and conditions with Starbucks corporation under NLRB rules.

The second group of Oklahoma Starbucks employees to push for unionization was the Hwy 9 and Classen store in Norman.

Those baristas delivered a detailed letter of grievances to the company president earlier in the month.

“Excited”

“I believe that Starbucks has decided to not ask for a hearing because they’ve lost every hearing so far and either they see it as a wasted investment or are pursing other strategies,” Nichols Hills barista Alisha Humphrey told Free Press in a message. “However, we are glad we will be able to let our voices be heard through an election sooner now.”

How does she feel about the vote now being on the calendar?

“I feel really excited that we’ll be able to vote and then negotiating a lot sooner now and that they’re not going to delay the process,” said Humphrey.

Humphrey told us that so far the company has been applying subtle pressure and posting anti-union literature. In the case of other stores Starbucks has been reducing hours of regular full time employees and hiring numbers of new workers ahead of the store’s vote hoping for the new employees to be much more pliable and easily influenced by the company.

“We hope Starbucks sees the bad PR their union busting in other stores has gotten and lets us vote fairly without interference,” Humphrey said.

Nationwide

Employees in more than 100 Starbucks stores in 25 states nationwide have filed for union elections according to a New York Times report. Employees in six have already won their elections and are now being represented by Workers United in spite of the company spending what is thought to be millions to oppose the effort.

Workers United is an affiliate union of the massive Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Buffalo, New York Starbucks baristas have been the latest to achieve success in winning elections with two of their stores winning their elections in early March. Two other Buffalo Starbucks employees had already won their union elections in December.

At the end of February, baristas in a Mesa, Arizona Starbucks successfully won their election which encouraged other Starbucks workers across the U.S. since the win was in a state not considered to be either liberal or pro-union.


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Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.