Last Updated on December 20, 2022, 11:29 AM | Published: May 31, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — The Starbucks store crew at the N.W. 23rd and Robinson store in Oklahoma City are the first in Oklahoma to win outright the vote to unionize.
The next step for them is to form a bargaining committee to begin the collective bargaining process with the store’s management.
The store joins over 100 Starbucks stores nationwide that have already voted to unionize. Over 274 stores in 37 states have filed petitions with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a vote.
A few of the leaders from the store were on hand at the state AFL-CIO headquarters Tuesday where they monitored the virtual vote count carried out by the NLRB which referees the efforts of workers to organize.
The crew from N.W. 23rd had 33 workers who were eligible to vote. Out of those:
- 15 voted in favor
- 2 voted against
- 1 was voided
As the win became apparent, those few present began to celebrate by laughing, clapping, and one was even jumping up and down.
“Absolutely incredible!”
“It feels absolutely incredible! Wonderful!” said Anna Astley from the N.W. 23rd store. “To see this come together like so quickly when we first had the Zoom meeting about getting this started, I’m really happy to be here now that the first part of the process is complete.”
Free Press asked several more from the store how it felt to have a clear, successful vote for unionization.
“I am feeling phenomenal. This is not just a win for us as workers, but for workers everywhere,” said Collin Pollitt who was the first barista to sign the letter to “Howard,” the CEO of Starbucks informing him that they were petitioning the NLRB for a union vote in March.
“Today, we’ve truly become partners in organizing for a more just labor structure where workers have a say in their workplace and earn a baseline living wage,” Pollitt continued. “We have reined in corporate power, and we carry on the banner of Martin Luther King Jr. with the idea that all labor has dignity.”
We asked Kat Hudgins, shift supervisor from the store, what it means to win this vote.
“It means that we now have more power in our workplace, we have a say in how we’re being treated, and even just receiving a living wage,” said Hudgins. “We have the democracy in the workplace that we have been wanting. We fought for it. Yes, we did win it. And it feels incredible to know that there is such overwhelming support and that it has been confirmed.”
Hudgins pointed out that over 50% of their workers in the N.W. 23rd store voted in the election, a strong turnout.
“We are a very connected team and it shows through our ballots,” said Hudgins.
“We had a lot of people who didn’t know what the union was about, but after it was explained to them, they were very much on board and very much agreed that we should unionize as a store,” said Astley.
Nationwide effort at store-level
Starbucks workers across the United States have been petitioning for a vote store-by-store. That means that each store’s workers that vote to unionize will also negotiate directly with their management.
This is a new way of unionizing for American workers who have typically taken on companies at a larger scale either as large warehouse crews such as Amazon, or across the entire company which has been the model for unionizing since the early 1930s.
The first store to petition was the Nichols Hills store at N.W. 63rd and Grand Blvd. Their vote was a provisional win but the NLRB is not certifying it as such until five votes that were challenged by the corporation have been investigated. That process is still under way.
Next to petition after Nichols Hills from the wider OKC metro were,
- Norman, Hwy 9 and Classen
- N.W. 23rd and Robinson, OKC
- Bricktown in downtown OKC
- N.W. 36th and May Ave, OKC
Starbucks’ mission statement is to “inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.” The movement within Starbucks to unionize is a demand from workers for the corporation to live up to its mission.
Since the effort has gone on one store at a time the opposition to the movement has been varied.
In the Oklahoma City area, workers have told us that district managers have been posting anti-union posters and statements in stores and have made statements implying that things would be worse with a union. Those same workers have told us that their district manager has been reported to the NLRB for engaging in what they consider to be “unfair labor practices.”
“Starbucks Workers United” has been forming with the advice of Workers United, an affiliate union of the massive Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
