Starbucks Seattle’s Reserve Roastery votes to unionize as CEO labels organizers ‘vocal minority’
Apr 21, 2022, 2:41 PM | Updated: 2:52 pm
Exterior of Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Seattle's Capitol Hill at night. (Photo courtesy of Starbucks via Flickr)
(Photo courtesy of Starbucks via Flickr)
Seattle’s “flagship” Starbucks location, Seattle Reserve Roastery, is now the second in the city to successfully vote to unionize. Thursday’s vote came in on a 38-27 margin.
The Starbucks on Capitol Hill originally filed for union elections through the National Labor Relations Board in February. The Seattle Reserve Roastery will be represented by Starbucks Workers United.
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“We can resist and thrive, even among a storm of disinformation and fearmongering perpetrated against our best interests,” Brennen Collins, a partner from the Seattle Roastery, wrote in a news release.
“This is the beginning of reclaiming our human rights to financial and emotional security,” added Mark Maddaloni, also a Seattle partner. “Amongst a wave of intimidation and disinformation, we kept our heads held high and forged a new path together.”
In March, one Seattle Starbucks on Capitol Hill at Broadway and Denny, became the first Starbucks on the West Coast to vote to join Workers United.
The vote came on the heels of a “leaked” video of Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO, speaking in front of company managers to “encourage every single person in every store, that might be petitioning for a vote, to vote because that person has a voice, has a responsibility, and no one should allow a vocal minority to control the destiny of a particular store,” adding “people in stores that have voted for a union [were] actually … 40% of [store] population.”
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