Workers’ unions have been cropping up in nontraditional places in Texas over the last few months. The trend gained widespread recognition when employees at a Buffalo, N.Y., Starbucks store unionized in 2021. Now, in Texas, at least five workplaces have filed for unionization, four of them Starbucks stores in San Antonio and Austin.

Those are among the 54 Starbucks stores in 19 states that now have unions.

Lillian K. Allen, a union member at a Starbucks near the UT Austin campus, says the union gives employees more ability to negotiate with their employer.

“We're forming a union to obtain a voice, to advocate for ourselves and for the issues that are central to us as partners, in a way where we have actual leverage,” Allen said.

Allen’s store, on 24th Street and Nueces, near UT’s famed “Drag” strip of shops and restaurants, unionized in March.

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