ARLINGTON, Texas — Employees at another North Texas Starbucks location announced they have filed for a union election Tuesday.
Workers at the Starbucks location in Arlington at Collins Street and Lamar Boulevard filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to unionize with Starbucks Workers United, according to a press release.
To date, workers at over 470 stores across the U.S. have made efforts to organize, seeking more protections on the job.
The stores are seeking protections on issues like wages, respect, equity and fair scheduling, according to a press release from Starbucks Workers United.
In a statement to WFAA, Starbucks said the company believes a direct partnership between leadership and the stores is core to the experiences created in their stores. They respect partner's right to have a choice on the topic of unions, Starbucks said.
“We are committed to delivering on our promise to offer a bridge to a better future to all Starbucks partners," Starbucks said in a statement.
The Arlington store's workers argued that the location's proximity to major sports venues in the city has left the store understaffed.
"Our proximity to the AT&T stadium and the Rangers stadium has left us with a collection of unpleasant experiences of never being staffed enough for events—we are staffed to cater to the company's financial willingness to pay us from the profit they acquire from the crowd that the events attract," Rhea Lanawan Tabora, a barista of 2.5 years, said in the release.
In a letter to the Starbucks CEO, organizing locations explained the efforts to advocate for more resources outside the bargaining table have failed.
"If we are truly partners, we demand to join you at the bargaining table so that we, too, can have a say in the future of the company that could not run without our labor," the organizers said.
Ten other DFW Starbucks locations, including one at Mockingbird Station, one at Inwood & Willow, one in Addison, and another in Denton, have unionized or made efforts to unionize as well. Nationwide, over 15 Starbucks stores filed for an election this week, the release states.
"Our store is unionizing to ensure decent benefits and hours, to fight against unfair and discriminatory treatment by management, and to keep Starbucks true to its word that we are partners, not just employees," Jason English, a barista of 3.5 years at the Collins and Lamar location, said in a release.
Union representatives and Starbucks are currently working to establish a framework for store contracts, the release states. The parties are working toward ratified contracts for stores by the end of the year. In June, Starbucks won a victory in the Supreme Court after a decision made it harder for the National Labor Relations Board to win court orders in labor disputes.
