Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A trio of Starbucks stores in the Buffalo region are anticipating a tally up of votes on Wednesday to see if their stores will unionize, joining the locations on Elmwood Avenue and Genesee Street.
Starbucks workers at the Sheridan and Bailey location in Amherst, the Walden and Anderson location in Cheektowaga and the Transit and French location in Depew have been casting their votes for unionization this month, with the deadline to submit their ballots set on Tuesday.
"We first petitioned six months ago now for a union election, and because the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said that we would delay the first three stores that already voted, we ended up pulling our filing and filing again later on. Now we're set to vote on Wednesday," said Colin Cochran from the Cheektowaga location.
While votes are anticipated to be tallied up on Wednesday, the count is contingent upon the NLRB issuing a decision on Starbucks' pending Request for Review. Ballots will be counted on Wednesday only if the NLRB issues a decision Wednesday morning on the pending Request for Review. If they do not issue any decision by 1 p.m. EST, the ballots will be impounded.
Starbucks' Request for Review raises the same failing legal arguments they have made numerous times before the NLRB at various levels already.
The NLRB failed to issue a decision for an identical Request for Review by the company for the Mesa, Arizona ballot count last week. Starbucks Workers United are not confident that ballots will be counted in Buffalo on Wednesday either, due to Starbucks' continued legal delay tactics.
"From what I've seen so far, it seems that there's going to be a lot of stalling," said newest bargaining committee member Natalie Wittmeyer from the Elmwood location. "They said they were going to bargain with us in good faith, but we're focusing a lot on the details in a way that doesn't seem like there actually is going to be any progress on the company's part. It doesn't actually seem like they want to talk with us, want to bargain with us, want to agree with us."
However, if a decision is rendered by the NLRB on Wednesday and the votes will be allowed to be tallied, Cochran is interesting to see how it turns out.
"I'm hopeful, but it's been a really difficult campaign," he said. "Starbucks has really waged a war on my store; I mean, on all the stores, but I think my store has been hit the hardest and a lot of ways. If we're able to make it through this and win an election, it'll be really something special."
As Cochran explained, the same week of the first filing for unionization, Starbucks closed the location on Walden and Anderson for two months.
"All of our organizing and conversations with each other were happening on the floor, and they divided our store. They sent a third of us here, a third of us here, a third of us there, and we lost contact with a lot of people," Cochran said. "At the same time, they basically doubled the size of our store. They brought in, like, 20 new partners, more than half my store now was not there when the union campaign started. So it's going to be a completely different group of people voting than those of us who initially filed."
Since this process of unionization for stores has started, Starbucks Workers United has made claims the company has tried a number of tactics to try and impede with the voting process for its workers.
Going forward with contract negotiations between Starbucks and Workers United, it is the goal of the unionized members to not only negotiate for a fair deal, but one that will protect its workers going forward.
"We are working on both non-economic causes - we're talking about just cause and making sure the workers can't just get fired for any reason - and we're also talking about economic," Wittmeyer explained. "We're trying to work for a better wage and better tipping policies for our employees."
Overall, Starbucks Workers United says a total of 103 stores nationwide have filed paperwork to hold a vote for unionization.
The union has gotten widespread support from many across the nation, including U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders when the original three stores on Elmwood Avenue, Camp Road and Genesee Street were voting to unionize back in December. A Town Hall meeting with members of Starbucks Workers United and Senator Sanders is expected to take place later Wednesday night.
