Last month workplace organizers and their fellow baristas at the Lynbrook store won their union vote!

Organizers at the store had previously said that safety protocols, unkept promises to promote workers, and termination threats from management to workers who raised concerns led them to organizing. They went so far as to write a letter to Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan complaining about staffing problems, unsafe working conditions and other issues. 

“Our store managers and district manager have forced us to serve customers who have berated us, sexually harassed us, threatened the safety of partners, and thrown items at working partners,” the letter read. “We have listened to so many empty promises of accountability and change. These problems continue solely because they are more profitable to ignore rather than acknowledge, at the expense of partner safety and wellbeing.”

“There were times when it seemed futile,” said Liv Ryan, who has been trying to unionize the store since May 2020. “At a drive-through store turnover is always so high, it’s hard to have a steady amount of pro-union workers..” After years of organizing, the store finally became the fifth unionized location on Long Island. “I’m grateful for this push to unionize because I feel like it’s going to give us a voice and protect us from being treated unjustly,” Ana Martinez, a barista at the store and Valley Stream resident said in a statement.

Workers at stores in Massapequa, Westbury, Farmingville and Wantagh voted to unionize last year. Workers at a Great Neck location narrowly voted against. Workers United has alleged that management engaged in unfair labor practices there and has contested the election’s outcome. In December, the National Labor Relations Board filed a federal lawsuit against Starbucks and the Great Neck location. The suit alleged that initial unanimous support for unionization among workers led management to threaten disciplinary action, resulting in some workers voting against a union in fear of losing their jobs or having benefits cut.

More than 280 Starbucks stores in 37 states have voted to unionize. The chain has around 9,000 corporate-owned stores across the country.

Starbucks said the company looks "forward to meeting Workers United in person to begin the single-store collective bargaining process," though no stores have reached a contract agreement since the first stores voted for unions at the end of 2021.