NEW BERLIN, Wis. — Today, Starbucks workers at the West National Avenue store in New Berlin, Wisconsin, filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to unionize with Starbucks Workers United.
Workers sent a letter to Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan to announce their organizing campaign. In the letter, workers explained their reason for unionizing “our goal in unionizing is to rebuild a culture of warmth, care, and courage in our store by advocating for tangible changes: a living wage, reliable hours, accountability, and consistent, equitable labor allotment changes which will enable us to rebuild a strong
and supported team.”
The New Berlin partners (employees) are joining a nationwide movement of over 8,500 baristas organizing for better working conditions, fair wages, and consistent schedules. “We’re sick of being treated just as numbers, drive times, customer connect scores, turnover rates and labor hours. We deserve to be treated as what we got hired as; partners.” said Mona Kemstra, a barista of two years and organizer at the New Berlin location.
“The reason I am choosing to unionize is because I am tired of the racism I have experienced from management behind the scenes. When I spoke out about my issue I felt neglected that the people in positions of power preferred to have discussions about ending our union rather than discussing the gross behavior of our boss.” said Alexia Alvarado, a barista of one and a half years and fellow organizer at the New Berlin location.
Starbucks has launched a ruthless union-busting campaign that includes threatening workers’ access to benefits, firing over 230 union leaders across the country, and shuttering union stores. The NLRB has issued over 100 official Complaints against the Company, encompassing over 1,600 violations of federal labor law.
Starbucks Workers United is the union drive that has taken the labor movement by storm. Since December 2021, over 335 Starbucks stores in 38 states and the District of Columbia have successfully unionized — more than any company in the 21st century.