After filing a petition for a union election earlier this month, Starbucks workers in Orlando's tourism district on Tuesday voted 10-7 in support of unionizing. This establishes the first unionized corporate-owned Starbucks in Orlando and the 11th to unionize in Florida.
“Winning this election means that we have succeeded in gaining agency as partners to have our jobs protected and to finally have the ability to have our voices heard,” said Yomna Abdellatif, a barista of three and a half years who works at the newly unionized location at 13401 Blue Heron Beach Drive.
“Winning means that I can move on from being a victim from the grievances my partners and I have experienced from the management and the company, and move towards the mindset of a creator, who has gained the strength and confidence to create change.”
According to Starbucks Workers United, Starbucks workers at the Orlando location will now join more than 11,000 workers at nearly 500 Starbucks locations that have unionized with Starbucks Workers United since 2021.
Starbucks workers at the East Mitchell Hammock location in Oviedo, just north of Orlando, became the first in Central Florida to unionize in the summer of 2022, citing stagnant pay, unpredictable schedules, and not having a voice on the job as motivating factors.
The growing organizing movement among Starbucks workers — and employees at other low-wage retail and service jobs — has bucked typical unionization trends, particularly in the U.S. South. Just 1.4 percent of food service and drinking establishment workers nationally belonged to a union as of last year, and Florida is one of several Southern states in the country where decades of anti-union policy efforts and reforms have contributed to abysmally low union membership rates. Just about 6 percent of Florida workers have union representation, and that percentage is even lower in the private sector.
Still, militant organizing by non-union auto workers, fast-food workers and Starbucks Workers United — a campaign led by a passionate cohort of mostly young, progressive-minded baristas — has led some labor experts to consider whether the legacy of the anti-union South is beginning to crack.
A strong majority of Americans (70 percent) now say they support labor unions, according to Gallup's latest annual survey, with only 23 percent sharing that they disapprove of unions.
Starbucks spokesperson Jay Go Guasch shared in a statement, in response to the union election results in Orlando, that while they are "committed to delivering on our promise to offer a bridge to a better future to all Starbucks partners," the company believes a "direct relationship" with workers (whom they call partners) is "core to the experiences we create in our stores."
The fight to raise standards at Starbucks collectively hasn't been easy. Since Starbucks baristas in Buffalo, New York, first voted to unionize in December 2021, workers have faced aggressive tactics from their employer in opposition to organizing efforts. The company stalled contract negotiations for years, and has been accused of numerous unfair labor practices, from illegally firing workers to cutting the hours of and unlawfully intimidating workers for their union activity.
Under the National Labor Relations Act, workers have certain rights that include the right to form a union, join a union or engage in other protected activities to improve workplace conditions. Coercing, threatening or otherwise retaliating against workers for protected activities is strictly prohibited, albeit common during union drives.
Starbucks, for its part, finally waved a white flag of sorts this February, following tons of bad PR. Since April, company representatives have met Starbucks union reps and workers at the bargaining table on a monthly basis. They're still working on hammering out initial union contracts covering issues ranging from wages to scheduling rules, staffing levels, job benefits like healthcare, and protection against workplace harassment, and are hoping to secure contracts by the end of the year.
Both parties say they've made progress in contract talks, but the union is still asking for community support as they continue to meet with company representatives. For workers in Orlando, their vote to unionize (once election results are certified) allows them to join thousands of other Starbucks workers in at least 45 states and Washington D.C. who are pushing for contracts that raise standards.
For Lakota Stewart, a barista of four years who felt their concerns weren't being heard by managers without a union, it's a chance to return to part of what drew them to Starbucks in the first place.
“I am ready to get back that community-first feeling Starbucks used to take pride in,” they said in a statement. “I am honored to be joining almost 500 stores in the fight for better wages, fair working conditions, and consistent hours. Most of all I am grateful our little community in our store came together to make change for the better.”
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