First Starbucks in Florida Files for Union Representation

First Starbucks in Florida Files for Union Representation

The Tallahassee Starbucks located at John Knox Road and North Monroe Street is the first Starbucks store in Florida to file for a union election.

According to local media, barista Calum Johnson said 24 employees or 75% of the staff members at this location had signed union authorization cards over the past weekend.

The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) website listed the filing for the Tallahassee store for union representation on January 11, 2022.

More Perfect Union tweeted that employees at seven Starbucks locations have filed for a union election in the last two weeks. These new petitions come after a Starbucks café in Buffalo, New York, became the second unionized company-owned Starbucks in the United States after the federal labor board on Monday, January 10, certified the results of their December election.

So, why unionize?

According to the report, Johnson said the union committee in Tallahassee is fighting for better benefits and increased recognition of seniority overall, and more input in daily operations, among other needs.

Likewise, in an interview with Cleveland.com, 28-year-old shift supervisor Kate Gammons-Nardi, of Cleveland, Ohio, said, “Starbucks has a reputation for treating workers better than similar companies. It offers health benefits and company stock and is raising wages, so workers average $17-an-hour. Workers want to unionize, in part, to hold Starbucks accountable to that reputation.”

Workers at Starbucks, like many businesses over the last two years, are dealing with high turnover rates and surges in COVID-19 infections. Overall, the employees want more input on protocol and how to make the store succeed, says Gammons-Nardi.

The Starbucks in Cleveland became the first location in Ohio to file a petition, also on January 11.

“While Starbucks respects the free choice of our partners, we firmly believe that our work environment, coupled with our outstanding compensation and benefits, makes unions unnecessary at Starbucks,” a spokesperson previously told Insider. “We respect our partners’ right to organize but believe that they would not find it necessary given our pro-partner environment.”

12 Responses to "First Starbucks in Florida Files for Union Representation"

  1. It’s always overcrowded and too expensive. You’d be better off walking over to the Country Kitchen in the same parking plaza. They have cheaper coffee and a down home breakfast. IMHO.

  2. As my Eye-talian father-in-law use to say, “Give’n the finger, they take whole hand.” They will never be satisfied, no matter what you do for them. You see it throughout our society.

  3. This reads like the Starbucks Company is WANTING to Unionize, So my question is WHY? Then I remembered that Biden and his Administration are FOR Unions…………. Is there a connection? Is the Starbucks Corporation trying to get in bed with this Administration to get special Favors?

  4. If you still cant shake your addiction to the whole Starbucks thing for Gods sake man pour that dirt coffee in another cup or all your coworkers will know you are an idiot.

  5. Their coffee tastes like dirt. If it wasn’t for all the flavorings nobody would wait in those God awful long lines to get a cup of dirt brew.
    Well maybe the meth they add to the brewing process has something to do with it too.

    Find a “Gate” gas/mini-mart location. Park your car walk in for the best dam coffee on the planet.
    You are welcome.

    And more importantly you will be shopping and spending your hard earned American Dollar with the real America not a bunch of frightened woke-@ss stay in your car Brandon voters.
    Someone stop me…how do I get down off this soapbox? There I hope I brightened up somebody’s day…you know this sweet shizz is funny!!!

  6. Ok, if you want Starbucks to offer better benefits, increased recognition of seniority and more input in daily operations, then scrape up your savings, mortgage your house, borrow money from your friends and buy your own Starbucks. Until then let the folks who have done that run the business the way they want. If you don’t like the way they run their business and you are not a happy there as an employee go to work somewhere else.

  7. Good their getting unionized just in time to get sued by the other businesses around them for blocking up their entrances with traffic lmao

  8. Having been a Facility Representative for the Air Traffic Controllers’ Union, I can tell you that primarily Unions spend most of their time protecting poor performing employees. You will pay dues and the Union will make sure the worst employees never lose their jobs. And the community will gladly pay more for a cup of coffee.

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