Starbucks workers showed off their union petition outside the Roseville location. (SWU photo)
Baristas at two Starbucks cafés on opposite sides of Highway 36 in Roseville are now part of the same union.
In balloting overseen by the National Labor Relations Board on March 6, workers at the Starbucks south of Highway 36 and Fairview Avenue voted 16-3 to join Starbucks Workers United, which represents over 10,500 workers across the U.S.
Baristas formally requested union representation Feb. 3, less than 2 months after a worker from the Starbucks north of the interchange – unionized since August 2022 – picked up a “borrowed shift” at their café, according to Andraya Skelley, who has five years of experience working for the company.
“He talked to a few of my co-workers that night, and then they brought it to me,” Skelley said. “They were like, ‘Hey, you’re someone who’s been here for a long time. What do you think of us unionizing?’”
Skelley said she and other baristas had previously considered the idea, but momentum “fizzled out” after they watched the company illegally retaliate against the first wave of workers who unionized, withholding their raises, denying them credit-card tips and firing several union organizers.
The company was also slow to engage its workers in contract talks. When Starbucks finally agreed to bargain in 2023, its representatives stonewalled union negotiators in Minnesota and around the country, walking out of over 100 meetings shortly after they began.
But in February 2024, Workers United secured an agreement with Starbucks that expanded credit-card tipping and raises to its unionized locations, and laid out a timetable for negotiations on a framework for bargaining single-store contracts. In January the two sides enlisted the help of a mediator in that process.
Baristas at her Starbucks location, Skelley said, hope their overwhelming vote to join Workers United lends strength to the union in those negotiations.
“There’s strength in numbers,” she said. “The more stores that do unionize, the more Starbucks has to listen. The more the numbers keep going up, it becomes harder and harder to ignore.”
When the time comes to bargain a contract in Roseville, workers hope to address concerns around scheduling and wages. Skelley said that understaffing at the café, particularly during the midday shift or when a team member calls in sick, too often leaves baristas feeling “overextended.”
“I value this job, and I love interacting with the customers,” she said. “On a good day, it feels really good, and I hate how many bad days there’s been lately due to staffing issues. It feels like we don’t have enough support from upper management.”
Not surprisingly, upper managers gave their store plenty of attention in the runup to workers’ union election.
“We had our district manager in all the time; she was really up in our space,” Skelley said. “I wouldn’t say there was super obvious backlash, but it was kind of funny. She would ask if you have any questions, and we were just like, ‘Cool, thanks, I’ll let you know.’”
The newly organized Starbucks in Roseville brings the number unionized cafés in Minnesota up to 13.
Workers at the Starbucks on Snelling and Stanford avenues in St. Paul were the first to win a union election, in April 2022. Other unionized locations include Starbucks in Chanhassen, Duluth, Edina, Fridley, Mall of America, Minneapolis, Moorhead, St. Anthony and St. Cloud, where workers took a vote Feb. 25.
Workers at a 14th Minnesota location, in Sartell, are scheduled to hold a union vote April 7.
– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor
Union Advocate 