St. Paul baristas celebrate their successful union election at the Starbucks on West 7th Street. (@mnsbuxunited on Instagram)
Baristas at a Starbucks in St. Paul voted 18-1 in favor of forming a union with Workers United yesterday, as the union’s open-ended strike at over 130 cafés across the U.S. approaches the one-month point.
Workers at the Starbucks at 2525 West 7th St., near the intersection with Davern, filed for a union election Sept. 30, but the federal-government shutdown halted the National Labor Relations Board’s work, delaying the vote until Wednesday.
The organizing victory restores the number of Minnesota locations where workers have formed unions with Starbucks Workers United (SWU) to 14. Starbucks abruptly closed a unionized store at 300 Snelling Ave. S in September, giving workers just two days’ notice.
Union members at three Starbucks in the Twin Cities have joined the nationwide strike, according to a memo published by SWU. Workers have pledged to stay on strike until the company resumes negotiations over the framework for first contracts at its cafés.
The open-ended strike began Nov. 13, and baristas in St. Anthony were there for it, shutting down the store at 3704 Silverlake Rd. NE. They picketed along the busy street and held an afternoon rally in the parking lot, supported by dozens of community members and baristas from other stores.
Union members shut down the St. Anthony store on Day 1 of the nationwide strike.
Union baristas in Chanhassen began an open-ended strike at their store, located 190 Lake Dr. E, later that weekend. Workers at the Starbucks on the first floor of the Mall of American, near the rotunda, have since joined the strike too, according to SWU.
Anton Olson, an 11-year veteran of Starbucks who has worked the last five years in St. Anthony, said he and the two dozen other union members at the store were in the fight to win – as long as it takes.
“It’s a tough decision, but we have a bunch of people supporting us, and we’re supporting each other,” Olson said.
The easiest way to show support for Olson and other union baristas is to take the pledge at nocontractnocoffee.org. Striking baristas also welcome support on the picket line, with shifts and locations posted to an interactive map on the website.
And striking baristas plan to rally Dec. 20 at 2305 Fairview Avenue in Roseville, where workers voted to unionize in August 2022 but have not yet joined the strike.
In balloting that began Oct. 27, SWU members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, with 92% support from participating baristas across the country. But each unionized store is a unique bargaining unit, which decides on its own when – and whether – to join the strike.
SWU represents over 11,000 baristas at about 550 Starbucks locations nationwide.
SWU and the company announced an agreement in February 2024 to begin negotiating a framework contract on the national level, making it easier for workers to settle a first contract on the local level.
That process resulted in key gains, union members say, but talks have stalled since Brian Niccol became CEO in September 2024. The two sides entered mediation earlier this year, but in the six months leading up to the strike, Starbucks refused to offer new proposals in response to workers’ key demands.
Striking baristas and supporters picket in St. Anthony.
Those demands include better staffing, higher pay and resolution of hundreds of unfair labor practice charges from bargaining units across the country.
Lorelei Lind, who works at the Fairview Avenue location, said Starbucks has made “unlawful changes” to its policies without consulting baristas’ union — “limiting our dress code, targeting partners with piercings, denying customers access to free water.”
“I have seen partners – experienced partners – belittled, their opinions ignored and their experience undermined,” Lind added.
In failing to consult with its workers, Niccols and other executives ignored safety, customer-satisfaction and other concerns, St. Anthony union member Foren Lee added.
“Time and time again, we have reiterated our demands to Starbucks,” Lee said. “Time and time again, we have received nothing in return but unfair labor practices, ever-changing [and] unlawful policy changes, two-day-notice store closures that laid off thousands of baristas, and a menu that increasingly grows less and less simplified.”
Baristas know that won’t change without a union contract, and they won’t get it without solidarity.
“Four years of time has seen it proved that a contract will not be given to us,” Lind said. “We must fight for it.”
– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor
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