Workers at Columbia Starbucks location unionize
Ryan Shiner
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Workers at a south Columbia Starbucks have unionized.
Employees at the Starbucks at Nifong Boulevard and Buttonwood Drive voted 12-4 on Tuesday to join Starbucks Workers United, according to a Wednesday press release from the union.
The location is the 15th store in Missouri and the first in Columbia to unionize, joining more than 11,000 employees in 45 states and Washington D.C.
“I’m excited to join Starbucks Workers United to encourage change within the company, and hopefully beyond. Given the current political landscape of the country, I think anything we can do to give more power to the workers is worth fighting for. Fighting for better wages and staffing is not only beneficial to partners within the company, but also the customers who pay for quality beverages,” shift supervisor Devin Duffie said in the release.
Starbucks issued a response in an email to ABC 17 News.
“At Starbucks, our success starts and ends with our partners (employees). We respect our partners right to choose, through a fair and democratic process, to be represented by a union or not to be represented by a union, and will continue to work to make Starbucks the best job in retail,” the email says. “Since last April 2024, Starbucks and Workers United have held more than nine bargaining sessions over 20 days and three mediation sessions over five days with a federal mediator. We’ve reached over thirty (30) meaningful agreements on hundreds of topics Workers United delegates told us were important to them.”