Starbucks workers at the Berkshire Center store in Danbury voted 18-1 to become unionized.
This is the second Fairfield County Starbucks with a unionized staff ”“ in May, the store at 67 Newtown Road in Danbury voted to unionize.
“Being a part of this union is important to me because it gives us the power to advocate for one another,” said Jake Domey, a supervisor at the Berkshire Center store who has been with the company for 11 years. “It ensures that our voices are heard, that we have a say in the environment in which we work. It is time to remind Starbucks that its greatest asset has always been the people who work in their stores daily, and that we deserve more. Partners over profit.”
Starbucks Workers United said it has unionized more than 330 of the coffee chain”™s stores in 38 states and the District of Columbia, with more than 41,000 workers among its membership.
Last summer, a regional office of the National Labor Relations Board accused Starbucks of violating federal law when then-CEO Howard Schultz, “promised increased wages and benefits at U.S. stores if its employees rejected the union as their bargaining representative” while denying raises and benefits to unionized workers. In March, Schultz used an appearance before a U.S. Senate hearing to claim there was “propaganda that is floating around” that the company was anti-union.
