Less than two years after Starbucks workers went public with their union campaign, the union has now won its 300th store, marking a major milestone in the campaign that is now helping to inspire a new generation of union activists.
On Friday, the 7th and K store in Sacramento, California, voted to unionize in a landslide win of 11 to 2, becoming the 300th Starbucks location in the U.S. to vote for unionization. This is the largest number of new unions seen within a single company at any point in the 21st century, according to Starbucks Workers United, which celebrated the victory.
“No one thought what we were doing in Buffalo was possible or that it would end up spreading so far and wide across the country,” barista and union organizer Michelle Eisen said in a statement. “Starbucks baristas are writing labor history, and I’m so proud we were able to show other partners what we could win if we stood together.”
“I am overjoyed that despite Starbucks using every dirty trick to deter us, we were able to become true partners in the company. We could not have done it without our union siblings at the 299 stores that came before us, and we are thrilled that our store can represent such an impressive milestone,” said 7th and K barista and organizer Maizie Jensen.
Indeed, the significance of Starbucks workers’ union campaign can hardly be overstated, with labor experts hailing it for kicking off a new beginning for the labor movement; their movement, along with Amazon workers’ historic campaign, has been cited as inspiration for numerous retail and warehouse union efforts in recent years, including those at Trader Joe’s, Home Depot and Tesla.
That workers even won their first union in Buffalo, back in December of 2021, was a major victory in the face of the company’s extreme union-busting campaign — the company has been found to have violated labor laws hundreds of times in Buffalo alone during those initial months of the campaign. The company hasn’t laid off its union busting, and the unions won ever since have been a major uphill battle.
“Hearing the news of the 300th store voting to unionize is obviously incredibly exciting and so motivating, but at the same time, it just makes me more disappointed in the behavior Starbucks has been ceaselessly exhibiting,” said Natalie Mattera, a worker at the Eastlake store in Seattle, which was the 100th store to vote to unionize. “Almost 1 year and 200 stores later, and now more than ever, I’m calling on Starbucks to sit down and bargain because we aren’t slowing down and have no plans to stop.”
The 300th win comes in a time when the phase of forming new unions within the company has slowed down from its peak last year; the 100th and 200th unionized store milestones took place within two months of each other last summer. Still, unionizing another 100 stores in just nine months is an accomplishment on its own in a time when the rate of unionization across the U.S. has otherwise hit an all-time low.
So far, the union has won roughly 80 percent of its union votes, according to data from the National Labor Relations Board. There are 13 elections queued up for the coming weeks. The win also comes as the company has still yet to reach a first contract agreement with any of the unionized stores, with workers waging protests urging the company to stop delaying and bargain in good faith.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.