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Workers at one of the Starbucks branches in Buffalo, upstate New York, voted Thursday in favor of forming a union, a historic decision that makes this coffee shop the first of more than 8,000 that the company It is open throughout the United States to do so.
The coffee shops on Elmwood Avenue and the one in the nearby town of Hamburg have carried out a vote that had to be endorsed last October by the National Labor Relations Board after Starbucks attempts to hold a single plebiscite that brought together twenty stores in the region. This proposal to organize in a union has also been rejected this Thursday by eight votes in favor and twelve against in another of the stores that the company has in the region, with one of the ballots canceled and another two contested.
“This victory comes after a long road and what the company has done to try to stop it in the last 90 days, with continuous union repression, intimidation and surveillance tactics,” explains Michelle Eisen, who has been working for Starbucks for 11 years. , a company with 245,000 employees in the US.
The company has made no secret of its displeasure with the results and, in a statement, has threatened against the alleged negative effects on the company if this movement becomes general within the corporation. “If a significant portion of our employees were to unionize, our labor costs could increase and our business could be adversely affected by other requirements and expectations that could increase our costs, change our employee culture, decrease our flexibility and disrupt our business,” Starbucks says. In addition, it argues that these union organizing efforts “could have a negative impact on how the brand is perceived and have adverse effects on the business, including financial results.”
In the face of Starbucks efforts to abort the vote, which included sending dozens of officials to Buffalo since the workers submitted their union request in the summer, the Democratic left has sided with the workers. Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortés are among the politicians who have shown their support for the workers.
Workers with @SBWorkersUnited made history today. They are a tremendous inspiration and it is so encouraging to see people all over the country standing up for themselves and each other. In solidarity, together, working people can achieve the dignity they deserve. pic.twitter.com/FYlo3YPJr1
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 9, 2021
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Sanders has congratulated the Starbucks Workers United organization for this “historic” victory. Starbucks, he said, “should stop spending money fighting the union and negotiate fair contracts now.” “The workers at Starbucks Workers United have made history. They are a tremendous inspiration and it is very encouraging to see people from all over the country come together to defend each other. In solidarity, together, workers can achieve the dignity they deserve ”, Sanders celebrated on Twitter.
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