Starbucks workers in DeWitt will vote May 6 on whether to unionize, seeking better working conditions, more consistent scheduling, and having a say in their workplace.
If successful, the 22 workers included in the potential union will join Starbucks Workers United, a nationwide movement seeking to bring the coffee giant to the bargaining table.
Starbucks Workers United, a campaign under the banner of the Workers United union, has helped unionize more than 12,000 workers at around 700 stores across the country, according to the campaign. Two of those stores are in Onondaga County, one in Liverpool and the other at Destiny USA in Syracuse.
The prospect of unionizing at the store on 3475 Erie Blvd E., comes at a time when thousands of Starbucks workers across the country are demanding the company bargain in good faith with the union. Both parties have not been able to reach an agreement since the first store in the country voted to form a union at the end of 2021.
The company and the store agreed to 33 tentative agreements outlining different terms of employment back in 2024. Key issues like establishing a higher wage floor and improving staffing and scheduling, workers say, have not yet been resolved.
Workers United has also filed hundreds of unfair labor practice complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the company of bargaining in bad faith, surveilling, threatening, and retaliating against workers who want to unionize, and even rolling back seven of the tentative agreements previously bargained between the two parties.
At the store in DeWitt, workers say they want better pay and fair staffing that will allow them to keep their benefits. Amaya Thaler, who has worked for Starbucks since 2021, said that low wages have created financial struggles for workers. Inconsistent scheduling, low hours and lack of transparency regarding scheduling have made it difficult for workers to feel financially secure.
Both issues have been persistent over her years working at the company, which she said led workers to file a unionizing petition with the NLRB on March 26. Sixteen staff members at the DeWitt store sent a letter in April to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, writing that the store is consistently understaffed and that pay is too low.
Starbucks did not respond to questions sent by Central Current regarding the store in DeWitt and its ongoing bargaining process with Starbucks Workers United.
“We’re putting in all the effort, trying to make the drinks, the food… we show up every day, but I don’t think that the value that we bring to the company shows in compensation,” Thaler said. “We’re struggling to juggle rent, groceries… but we are not getting the pay or the hours to make ends meet.”
Thaler did not specify how much workers are paid at the store in DeWitt, nor did she provide any wage targets the company should hit, but she stressed that workers are concerned about low pay.
Starbucks Workers United has asked the company to establish $17 as the starting pay for workers, which represents a dollar more than the minimum wage in Upstate New York, while also raising pay for other workers.
Thaler said that wages are only one component of the issues with compensation. Thaler is typically scheduled for around 35 hours per week, but starting last December she started getting scheduled for fewer hours. She spoke to her manager to correct the situation shortly thereafter to no avail.
“It just gets dismissed,” Thaler said. “I’m used to working full shifts, like eight hour shifts, but I’ve only been receiving short shifts where I don’t even work enough to get a lunch, so I’m not making enough to make ends meet.”
Workers, Thaler said, can’t afford expenses that are unaccounted for.
In February, her cat Eliza had a veterinarian emergency that turned into a substantial expense.
“I know that if I had had the hours that I’m used to, I wouldn’t have to rearrange my whole budget for it,” she said. “We’re under a lot of pressure, not knowing when we’re going to have to spend loads of money on something, yet we don’t have much to back it up.”
Thaler said inconsistent hours also complicate how some workers’ benefits work. Thaler graduated last winter from one of Arizona State University’s sociology online degree programs. Her tuition was covered by an agreement between the company and the university that pays for the tuition of employees who work more than 20 hours per week — or around 250 hours in a six-month period.
“If I hadn’t graduated in December and I was still using that benefit, I would be concerned about hitting my benefit hours,” she said.
The union election will take place on May 6. At least 12 of the 22 workers will have to vote in favor of the union to bring it to fruition. Workers are hosting a sip in at the DeWitt store on Sunday from noon to 2 p.m., asking supporters of the effort to order a drink under the name “union strong.”
“It’s just been a long time coming, and the timing now just feels right, because we’ve been facing these issues at work for a while,” Thaler said. “But like I said, after a while, enough becomes enough and you want to make change.”
Read more of Central Current’s coverage
Another Syracuse-area Starbucks will vote on whether to unionize
The workers at the Starbucks on Erie Boulevard East in DeWitt will vote May 6 on whether to unionize.
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