The first Reno Starbucks store has filed a petition to unionize with Starbucks Workers United, along with 20 other national stores in February.
This will be the fifth unionized corporate store in Nevada, with all others in Las Vegas. The workers at Lakeside Drive and McCarran Boulevard will join 9,500 union baristas at nearly 400 stores.
The campaign to unionize Starbucks stores began in 2021.
"We are unionizing because we all love Starbucks and want to be a part of changes moving forward together as a team. We've had a hard time being noticed as individuals but with collective bargaining we get to have a seat at the table and be heard by management,” said Fenrir Larsen, a shift supervisor of 8 years and organizer at the Reno location, in a written media statement.
Other locations in Nevada include:
- Rainbow and Oakey boulevards
- Tenaya Way and Azure Drive
- Casino Center Boulevard and Clark Avenue
- Lake Mead Boulevard and McDaniel Street in North Las Vegas
As noted in previous reporting, many licensed Starbucks stores inside Las Vegas casinos are staffed by members of the Culinary Union.
Starbucks provided the following statement in response on Tuesday:
While we believe our direct relationship as partners is core to our culture and our continued improvements to the partner experience, we respect the rights of partners to organize and reaffirm our aim to negotiate first contracts for represented stores this year. We encourage all partners at stores petitioning for representation to get the facts, make an informed choice and ensure their voice is heard by voting in neutral, secret-ballot elections conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. Our aim will be to ensure the process is fair and our partners’ voices are heard.
Additionally, we know a core piece of a positive partner experience is consistent scheduling and predictable hours, and we’ve continued to work to build weekly schedules that reflect our partners’ preferred hours and support expected customer demand. As such, Starbucks has invested more than 20% of the Company’s 2023 profits back into our partners and stores through wages, training and equipment. Continued efforts like these have helped the company improve average hours per U.S. partner by 5% and increase total hourly compensation for U.S. partners by nearly 50% since fiscal year 2020.Starbucks spokesperson Andrew Trull
