Today, workers at an Arizona Starbucks at McQueen and Guadalupe in Gilbert, AZ, filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to unionize with Starbucks Workers United. The McQueen & Guadalupe partners (employees) are joining a nationwide movement of hundreds of stores and thousands of baristas organizing for better working conditions.
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Workers sent a letter to Starbucks Interim CEO Howard Schultz to announce their organizing campaign. In the letter, workers explained that they are organizing as there is a growing “lack of compensation and respect to partners who devote their time and energy to keep the store running.”
“As partners, we are encouraged to challenge the status quo. By unionizing, our hope is to inspire other service workers to feel seen and heard by standing together,” said Sabrina Martinez, a partner and organizer at the Gilbert location.
Starbucks has launched a ruthless union-busting campaign that includes firing nearly 200 union leaders across the country and shuttering union stores. At least seven union leaders in the Grand Canyon State have been fired in retaliation for their organizing activity, and more have been forced out of the Company.
The NLRB has issued 60 official Complaints against the Company, encompassing over 1,200 violations of federal labor law.
Starbucks Workers United is the union drive that has taken the labor movement by storm, with more new unions formed in 12 months than any US company in the last 20 years. There are now 285 Starbucks stores in 42 states and the District of Columbia that have successfully unionized.
