Starbucks is about to find out if it will have its first unionized stores ever

Starbucks workers unionizing in Buffalo — REUTERS/Lindsay DeDario

Starbucks CEO recently said in a statement that a union could come between workers and the company.
Votes from the first three locations are scheduled to be counted on December 9.

Votes on unionizing for three Western New York Starbucks locations are being counted today, and they could become the first unionized Starbucks in the US.

Starbucks workers in Buffalo first announced their plans to unionize in late August. Workers said chronic understaffing, along with long waits for customers and product shortages, pushed them to organize this year. Organizers told Insider that they hoped to eventually represent all 20 stores in the Buffalo area. Three more stores have since filed to vote.

In the months leading up to the vote, Starbucks sent executives, including executive vice president and president of North America Rossann Williams, to hold listening sessions and meetings with store workers. The company previously told Insider these meetings are a "common occurrence for our leaders."

CEO Kevin Johnson made his first public statements on the union election at the stores just days before votes were scheduled to be counted.

"It goes against having that direct relationship with our partners that has served us so well for decades and allowed us to build this great company," Johnson told The Wall Street Journal on Monday.

This is typical rhetoric from companies trying to stop the formation of a union, Michael C. Duff, a professor at the University of Wyoming School of Law, told Insider. Employers may argue that a union will interfere with the relationship between the company and employees, though often employees try to form a union because they don't feel they have that relationship, Duff said.

"What the employer is hinting at is that after employees select a union as their representative the employer is prevented from acting unilaterally with respect to changes in working conditions," Duff told Insider, so the company attempts to portray the union as a third-party interloper.

Starbucks has reacted to the unionization attempt in other ways typical of large employers facing such campaigns. Companies often arrange "captive audience" meetings or mandatory sessions where workers are given anti-union messaging, which workers say Starbucks held. In some cases, "captive audience" meetings can "dance on a knife's edge of legality," Duff said. Corporate lawyers may write scripts that are carefully worded for these meetings to avoid veering into any potentially illegal territory.

A Starbucks spokesperson directed Insider to Johnson's letter sent to workers on Tuesday, which reads: "First, we will work each day to exceed the expectations of our partners as you, in turn, create that great Starbucks Experience for our customers. Second, we will always be transparent and authentic – even when we need to have tough conversations. And finally, you can trust that while we are on this journey together, we will always be one Starbucks."

Ahead of voting in three Buffalo area stores, Starbucks argued that the eligible units should contain at least 20 stores around Buffalo, while the organization of workers, Starbucks Workers United, argued that each location was its own individual unit.

It's common for employers to argue for larger bargaining units, Duff said.

"The reason employers tend to prefer larger units is that they are usually more difficult for unions to organize," Duff said.

Do you have a story to share about a retail or restaurant chain? Email this reporter at mmeisenzahl@businessinsider.com.

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