Seattle Starbucks Workers Launch Union Effort

SEATTLE — Building on the momentum of the recent unionization of a Starbucks in Buffalo, N.Y., workers at a store on Seattle's Capitol Hill are launching a similar effort to the coffee giant's birthplace.

The group Starbucks Workers United announced a filing for a union election at the Seattle location in a social media post on Monday evening, sharing a letter signed by four workers at the Broadway and Denny location who comprise the organizing committee.

"We do not see our desire to unionize as a reaction to specific policies, events, or changes, but rather a commitment to growing the company and the quality of work," the letter reads in part. "We see unionizing as a fundamental and necessary way to participate in Starbucks and its future as partners."

The latest unionization push inside Starbucks follows a successful effort at one Buffalo store earlier this month — a first in the company's 50-year history. In mid-December, workers at two stores in Boston took their first steps toward a union vote.

As The Seattle Times reports, Starbucks declined to comment directly on the Seattle unionization effort Monday, and pointed the newspaper to a letter addressed broadly to employees at its 8,000 stores, casting unions as a barrier but promising to adhere to the process.

"From the beginning, we’ve been clear in our belief that we do not want a union between us as partners, and that conviction has not changed," the letter reads. "However, we have also said that we respect the legal process. This means we will bargain in good faith with the union that represents partners in the one Buffalo store that voted in favor of union representation. Our hope is that union representatives also come to the table with mutual good faith, respect and positive intent."