Peoria location becomes one of state’s first unionized Starbucks

Applause, cheers and hugs erupted at the Peoria Labor Temple, where an April 26 viewing party watched the National Labor Relations Board open and count mailed ballots in Campustown Starbucks workers’ vote whether or not to unionize.

Live via Zoom, the NLRB announced the results: 9-2 in favor of unionizing, with 1 voided ballot and no challenged ballots – one of the first Illinois Starbucks to vote to unionize.

Beforehand, Dave Clark, a regional rep with Workers United, an affiliate of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), had sat on a folding chair and express his confidence.

“This is pretty much a done deal,” he said.

Afterward, Jon Gill, a Campustown barista, said, “Workers’ power is coming back in a force that we have not seen in decades. It proves that workers can fight and win against massive corporations like Starbucks.

“We’re feeling incredibly empowered,” Gill continued. “Workers do have power, and if they organize, they can reach that power. We’re feeling incredibly empowered.”

Nationwide, some 230 Starbucks stores have filed with the NLRB to vote, and at least 32 locations in 31 states have unionized (3 voted no), covering more than 5,000 workers. In addition, workers voted to unionize at Starbucks roasteries in New York City and in Seattle – 2½ miles from Starbucks headquarters.

Starbucks has about 9,000 U.S. stores

Of course, under U.S. labor law, the unioniaation vote is just one step. Starbucks will probably appeal every NLRB ruling, said Carlos Ginard from SEIU’s Chicago and Midwest Regional Joint Board of Workers United (CMRJB).

“Starbucks challenged half the ballots in Kansas City,” Ginard said. “Starbucks will challenge results, if not ballots.

“In some ways, it’s a sad situation,” he continued. “It opens up who Starbucks really is: not what it claimed, the marketing image of a hip, progressive place. It’s all a scam.”

In other markets, corporate campaigns and outreach efforts are gaining support from clergy, city councils and other community members. Gill said workers are preparing.

“We don’t expect them to necessarily play fair,” Gill said. “We hope that they do.”

Starbucks workers’ issues include better wages and benefits, and also input in scheduling their hours.

“Starbucks says they can’t afford to pay better wages, but it spends thousands an hour on ‘union-avoidance’ union-busters,” Ginard said.

Elsewhere that same week, a 33%-larger Starbucks in Cary, Ill., voted 17-4 mere minutes before Peoria/Campustown, becoming Illinois’ first unionized Starbucks; a Baltimore Starbucks voted for the union 14-0; two stores in the Washington, D.C., area voted for the union 30-2 and 24-1 and a Hopewell, N.J., Starbucks went union 15-1.

The following week, a second Peoria Starbucks – on Pioneer Parkway at Knoxville Avenue – on May 3 filed a petition with the NLRB for representationwith Workers United.