Last Updated on November 10, 2023, 10:34 AM | Published: November 10, 2023
MIDWEST CITY, Okla — Workers at the Midwest City Starbucks store won their union election Thursday with a 13-3 vote. Formal negotiations for a contract will be the next step for the workers and management.
It’s another win for members of Starbucks Workers United, adding to their growing numbers of baristas in the OKC metro and the nation.
After the results were announced late Thursday, local union leaders released a blistering press statement criticizing Starbucks corporation [SBUX] for their ongoing labor practices.
“The path to unionization has not been easy and our store has faced its own challenges throughout this process,” said Valerie Smith, a barista at the Midwest City Starbucks store.
“[SBUX] continues to work against their employees and shrug off accountability in favor of profits,” Smith continued. “Our victory shows that we will not let our labor be undervalued and we will continue to fight for fair treatment and equal partnership.”
The new addition to OKC Starbucks Workers United efforts comes during a time of a brutal union-busting campaign by Starbucks’ management across the country. A part of that union-busting process has been a union decertification campaign at multiple stores including the original store to unionize in OKC. But, that effort may not be an easy one for the company.
That new company strategy for decertification failed Thursday for a Buffalo, New York store when the NLRB tossed out one worker’s petition for decertification citing that it showed “no substantial issues.”
‘Long overdue’
The release also has a statement from one of the store’s workers who thinks change at the store “has been long overdue”. The worker was not named in the press release.
“The 13-3 victory in unionizing speaks volumes for us,” the statement read.
The anonymous worker expressed deep disappointment in the Starbucks corporation saying, “We have believed in the company for far too long to make the right decisions.”
They also said that employees at the Midwest City store were “sick and tired” of their overall treatment and “retaliation we’ve received over the past year from management.”
“This company has lost its core values. Their mission statement has become just that; another empty statement,” read the press release.
“It is relieving and inspiring to know that we now have an organization willing to stand up for us and fight the battles we have been fighting alone for years,” wrote the anonymous worker. “I am excited to enter this new chapter and grow in the direction I know that we can.”
Alex Gatley covers labor activities in the state of Oklahoma.
