Workers at the Seattle Starbucks Reserve Roastery Join Nationwide Unionization Push

Workers at Seattle’s flagship Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Capitol Hill filed for a union election today, according to Starbucks Workers United. It is the 81st store in the country, and the fifth in the Seattle area, that has plans to unionize, joining a wave of Starbucks workers across the country seeking higher wages and better benefits.

As the first Starbucks Reserve Roastery — tourist attractions that offer tours and food and drinks not available at regular Starbucks stores, of which there are six worldwide — a successful unionization vote would be a symbolically important win for Starbucks Workers United.

“I have worked for Starbucks for almost nine years, and four of those have been at the Seattle Roastery. Over the years, I have slowly seen the partner experience take a backseat to the customer experience. Our health and safety have been put into jeopardy in a myriad of ways, and we’re just burnt out,” said Melissa Slabaugh, a partner at the Reserve Roastery, in a news release.

After a Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York became the company’s first unionized location in December following a highly publicized months-long battle, locations across the country have attempted to follow suit. The company has responded with an aggressive anti-union campaign, including anti-union meetings branded as “listening sessions” that workers were mandated to attend individually with management and a website, We are One Starbucks, which encourages to vote against unionization.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/workers-at-the-seattle-starbucks-reserve-roastery-join-nationwide-unionization-push/ar-AATQZrt