JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As workers at more than a dozen Starbucks stores around the country have voted to unionize, two local Starbucks could be next.
Unionization ballots were mailed yesterday to employees at the drive-thru store at the intersection of San Jose Blvd and Ricky Drive in Mandarin, and the café in San Marco.
Workers told News4JAX on Wednesday that this is about having a seat at the table and holding Starbucks accountable.
Meanwhile, the company’s founder and CEO said he doesn’t think unions will benefit Starbucks or its “partners,” which is what they call workers.
One local employee is spearheading an effort to unionize workers at the San Marco Starbucks.
“Starbucks has these certain values and we’re just trying to further those values to feel like we’re respected as what they call us, as partners of the company,” Kayla Eliopulous, Head Union organizer at the San Marco Starbucks, said.
She said she and her colleagues want more workers on the floor, experienced workers to earn more than new hires, and credit card tips.
“We’ll be getting 50, 60 customers every 30 minutes,” Eliopulous said.
Starbucks recently bumped pay several times, and in October, the company announced more raises set to take effect this summer -- paying baristas a minimum of $15 an hour.
For Mason Boykin, who’s a shift supervisor at the Mandarin Starbucks, pay is important -- but what’s more important is culture and accountability.
“As a queer person, I wanted the culture of Starbucks, I had never been respected at any job I worked at,” Boykin said. “So I really wanted that. And I felt that respect and dignity kind of diminished over the years, and I want to be able to take control of that.”
He said when Starbucks extended hazard pay and free food and drinks daily during the pandemic -- and then took those privileges away -- workers thought it showed the company could provide more benefits than they were letting on.
“It’s my ideology that if you were able to do it, then when you were making less profits, then you should be able to do it now when you’re making record profits,” Boykin said.
Starbucks has come out strongly against unionization efforts. Founder and CEO Howard Schultz said, “…I do not believe conflict, division and dissension -- which has been a focus of union organizing -- benefits Starbucks or our partners.”
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board issued a memo calling for employers to stop requiring workers to attend anti-union meetings -- their attorneys argued it’s illegal.
Both Eliopulous and Boykin said they had to go to similar meetings with management.
“Are those meetings illegal? They’re not illegal because they know what to say to keep them legal.”
A Starbucks spokesperson said any claims of anti-union activity are categorically false.
News4JAX was told a complaint to the NLRB about how management is handling the unionization at the store is in the process of being filed.
To unionize, at least 51 percent of workers at each store would need to vote in favor of and then collective bargaining would begin.
News4JAX should know the results of these Starbucks union elections on May 10.