Shortly after 5 p.m Tuesday, Tanner Armstrong walked out of the Rochester Starbucks and told colleagues the result of the union vote.
“We won,” he said, eliciting cheers from fellow employees who had gathered to hear the results.
On a 10 to 4 vote, rank and file employees at the store’s location in the Granite Ridge shopping center became the latest to secure union representation, joining more than 300 other Starbucks across the country that have organized since Dec. 2021.
Armstrong said the vote was a first step towards addressing employee concerns.
“Unfair wages, unfair labor practices, just a lot of shadiness,” he said. “And we shouldn’t have to deal with that. We should feel that we are supported and heard.”
The shop’s management declined to comment.
In a statement, a corporate spokesperson for the Seattle-based coffee chain said: “We respect the right of all partners to make their own decisions about union representation, and we are committed to engaging in good faith collective bargaining for each store where a union has been appropriately certified.”
There have been stalled contract negotiations at other unionized locations, with both sides blaming each other for a breakdown in negotiations.
Haley Bogardis, a barista for three and a half years in Rochester, said a main concern for workers there are constantly changing schedules, which can make qualifying for certain benefits a challenge.
“That’s not livable, and they know it's not livable,” said Bogardis after the vote. “They know we have the people who want to be here full time, and they just won’t provide that.”
