Starbucks baristas at two area stores win union elections (2024)

NORTH METRO ATLANTA — Baristas at two Starbucks locations in north Metro Atlanta won their union elections July 15 and 16.

They join a growing movement of workers nationwide, calling for a voice and improved conditions on the job. Out of its more than 16,000 coffee shops in the country, there are currently 464 unionized Starbucks, according to unionelection.org.

Amanda Rivera, member of Starbucks Workers United, said that to begin the process, at least 30 percent of a location’s workforce must back a petition. Her union represents the vast majority of unionized Starbucks workers.

Once a petition is filed, Rivera said the National Labor Relations Board sets an election date.

The Starbucks location at 10830 Haynes Bridge Road in Alpharetta won their election July 15 in a 14-0 vote. The following day, Starbucks baristas in Roswell at 1570 Holcomb Bridge Road won theirs in a 12-2 vote.

Rivera said workers will nowjoin the broader campaign and train in how to run their unions in their shop, like Weingarten rights and protected action trainings. She said they also take an active role in building strong unions around Atlanta by running regional meetings and planning and attending community events.

Last year, Appen Media reported the Milton Starbucks at Crabapple and Houze roads won its election in a close vote.

Rivera, who has been a partner for 12 years, said her store in Midtown won its union election in June 2022 and since then, she said repairs to broken equipment occur more quickly, taking 48 hours rather than a week or a month.

At that point in time, Rivera said the company wasn’t willing to come to the table to negotiate, so workers enacted “marches on the boss,” or five-minute work stops to address issues at the store.

“We were able to use our collective voice to say, ‘We expect you to uphold your side of the bargain and fix these items, so it makes it easier for us to do our job,’” Rivera recalled. “And in some instances, we were asking for things to be fixed because they were a safety issue.”

She said customers have told her they patronize her location because of the union.

“...They know we take care of each other, and a better work environment for us is a better coffee shop for them,” Rivera said.

While the coffee giant withheld credit card tips when baristas at Rivera’s location filed their petition, she said all union and nonunion stores now receive them. Rivera eventually received credit card tips this past April and is still waiting on back pay.

“It’s something we know that we are going to have to advocate for and use our collective voice to make sure that we get our back pay, but we know that we will receive it,” Rivera said.

In anticipation of their union elections, baristas in Alpharetta and Roswell voiced their reasons for filing a petition to unionize.

Vivek Ghate, who uses they/them pronouns, hopes the union will stop the overworking they and other employees at the Holcomb Bridge store have been experiencing.

Ghate said the store has been running with skeleton crews amid huge labor cuts, yet employees have been expected to keep up with copious amounts of new drink recipes and methods of doing things.

“We’ll be able to help ourselves and customers, and we’ll be able to function more efficiently, I feel like, and better overall as a store,” Ghate said.

Like Ghate, Danielle Stolton, who’s been an employee at the Alpharetta location for more than eight years, said staffing has been a key issue. Stolton said staff have been told they haven’t “earned the labor,” though they are expected to handle an influx of customers across new promos.

With more historical knowledge of unions, Stolton said she was the first to look into unionizing the location, understanding what the process entails. She sought input from each of the shifts to get adequate representation for the store.

“...As individual partners, we can’t do a lot, but if we come together — they need us at the store more than we need them, and … having a collective voice can really be beneficial,” Stolton said.