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Baristas at Starbucks’ upscale Reserve Roastery coffee shop in New York City’s trendy Meatpacking District voted 46-36 in favor of forming a union on Friday — the ninth restaurant owned by the coffee chain to do so.
This is the first time that an organized labor drive has succeeded at a Reserve Roastery, which is a bigger, more high-end version of the more than 32,600 Starbucks locations around the globe.
The vote to unionize at the is perceived as a slap in the face for newly installed interim CEO Howard Schultz, who is the mastermind of the Reserve concept.
Schultz has urged Starbucks employees to reject attempts to organize. As of Monday, workers at more than 150 Starbucks locations in 27 states have petitioned to form a union.
So far, Starbucks stores in and around Buffalo, New York; Mesa, Arizona; Seattle; Boston; and Kansas City have voted to unionize.
The 23,000-square-foot restaurant on Manhattan’s Lower West Side is one of six special cafes worldwide that offer a “selection of the rarest, most extraordinary coffees,” according to the company.
Starbucks has opened other Reserve cafes in Tokyo, Shanghai, Milan, Chicago, and its home base of Seattle.
Schultz, who is credited with building the brand into the global monster it is today, wanted to expand the Reserve concept to dozens of other cities.
But Kevin Johnson, who succeeded Schultz after the CEO stepped down in 2017, put those plans on hold.
Johnson, 61, last month announced that he would be retiring after five years as Starbucks boss, prompting Schultz to take over the firm on an interim basis. Monday is Schultz’s first day on the job.
The 68-year-old Schultz, who held the honorary title of chairman emeritus since 2018, has said that he has no plans to return to the chief executive role full time.
Schultz has argued that unions weren’t necessary for Starbucks employees since the company already offers its workers generous benefits like health care, free college tuition, parental leave and stock grants.
In a November letter to employees, posted just before the first unionization votes at three stores in Buffalo, New York, Schultz said he tried to create the kind of company that his blue-collar father never had the chance to work for.
“No partner has ever needed to have a representative seek to obtain things we all have as partners at Starbucks. And I am saddened and concerned to hear anyone thinks that is needed now,” Schultz wrote.
But to many union organizers, who complain of inconsistent hours, poor training, understaffing and low wages, Shultz’s words fell flat.
“A lot of people felt like they were being lectured to by a disappointed father because they weren’t grateful,” said Jaz Brisack, a Starbucks barista and labor organizer who heard Schultz speak at an employee forum in Buffalo last fall.
With Post wires
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