PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — One of the eight unionized Starbucks locations in Philadelphia has recently submitted a petition to decertify from Workers United, the union behind efforts to form Starbucks collective bargaining units nationwide. The petitioners’ representatives say the union is trying to block the effort, but Workers United says it’s just another of the coffee giant’s union-busting tactics.
The Starbucks on Ninth and South streets in South Philly voted to unionize about a year ago. Then last month, a petition came from workers at that location, requesting a new vote to decertify — or cut off union representation for workers at that location. If such a vote should pass, it would be the second Starbucks shop in the city to do so.
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Fund, which advocates for workers’ right to opt against joining a union, represents the workers petitioning for a decertification vote at the South Philly shop. Vice President Patrick Semmens said the South Street location is not alone.
“This is one of nine decertification efforts for Starbucks workers that we’re assisting with,” Semmens said. “Some of the things we hear are that the union made a whole bunch of promises, they came in, and they didn’t follow through on any of them.”
Amanda Kindler, the union steward at the South Street Starbucks, said the petition, which was circulated without her knowledge, is part of a coordinated effort to break up the union.
“The petition got signed, it got circulated behind my back and also behind the backs of several people at this store who are pro-union, who were instrumental in getting this store unionized. They were deliberately excluded from this petition,” Kindler said.
Kindler said the issue at the center of the petition was the union’s insistence that workers should be able to collect tips from credit and debit card transactions, which she said is one of several benefits that unionized locations are excluded from. She called it a form of retaliation.
“If you ever go to a Starbucks corporate store and they don’t let you tip with your credit card, that’s a unionized store that’s being retaliated against by Starbucks,” she said. “It’s not the union that’s taking these things away. It’s Starbucks.”
Kindler said the signatures were obtained under the pretense of workers voicing an interest in allowing customers to tip with their cards. It's unclear if it was explained to the workers that their signature was tantamount to supporting the dissolution of their union.
“All this just kind of throws into very stark reality how much Starbucks actually has it within their power to do these things that the unionized workers are asking for, and they just won’t do it,” Kindler said.
Semmens said decertification votes face challenges from the union itself using the National Labor Relations Board, which protects workers’ rights to join unions across the country.
“Rather than just let these workers hold a vote and exercise their right to remove a union — just like workers can exercise their right to bring a union in — Starbucks Workers United union officials are trying to use the NLRB system to block them from holding the vote,” he said.
Semmens said a new vote is what the workers are owed, no matter the reason.
“Our perspective is just, this is a choice they deserve. This is a right they have under federal law and it shouldn’t be denied to them,” he added. “The union claims to represent these people. Put it to the test with a vote. If they, in fact, think they do, they shouldn’t have anything to fear.”