Baristas at UA-area Starbucks first in Tucson to vote for union

A Starbucks next to the University of Arizona campus is poised to become the first unionized location of the coffee chain in Tucson and the fifth in Arizona.

Baristas at the Starbucks in Main Gate Square, 814 E. University Blvd., voted 11-3 in favor of union representation on Wednesday.

If the vote is certified by the National Labor Relations Board, the workers will join Starbucks Workers United, which is supported by Service Employees International Union affiliate Workers United.

More than 180 of Starbucks’ 9,000 company-run U.S. stores have voted to unionize since December, according to Workers United. And in the past year, workers in 327 Starbucks stores across the U.S. have petitioned the NLRB to hold union elections, according to agency records.

“We are proud to be the first store in Tucson to make this leap, and hope that many more stores will join us in our pursuit of creating a better workplace,” Matthew Harrison, a shift supervisor at the Main Gate Square Starbucks and union organizer representing fellow baristas, said in announcing the vote.

Starbucks, which unsuccessfully challenged a successful union vote at a Starbucks in Mesa in February, said in a prepared statement it is listening to employees but still opposes union representation.

“From the beginning, we’ve been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us, and that conviction has not changed,” a company spokesman said in an email.

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A group of 10 Tucson baristas informed Starbucks in April of their intention to hold a union vote in a letter to CEO Howard Schultz that alleged the company had engaged in “union-busting” tactics.

Harrison said the company’s anti-union tactics were the main driver of the Tucson baristas decision to seek union representation.

“It was their comments on unions and union workers, and just the overall divisiveness that corporate has decided to take over the issue,” he said.

Work-hour scheduling and pay also have become issues recently, Harrison said, citing high inflation.

Harrison said he hopes Starbucks will voluntarily come to the bargaining table in Tucson, but that remains to be seen given the company’s union stance.

None of the new unions have begun contract talks with the company to reach collective-bargaining agreements with the company — a process that typically takes a year or more.