Skip to main content
NEU job vacancy
Starbucks Workers United defeats the giant coffee chain
Terrified by the prospect of a union at last, the corporate beast has been flooding the town of Buffalo with company big-wigs and meddling managers to throw the poll — it lost, with the workers voting unequivocally to join, reports MARK GRUENBERG
Starbucks employees and supporters react as votes are read during a viewing of their union election on Thursday, December 9, 2021, in Buffalo, New York

STARBUCKS WORKERS UNITED broke a significant barrier on December 9 with the first-ever worker win at the big retail coffee chain.

Workers at the Elmwood store in Buffalo voted 19-8 to unionise with Starbucks Workers United, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) officer announced.

The union also won 15-9 at a second store, but there are seven challenged ballots and the NLRB will have to decide whether and how many of them to count.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Starbucks Workers United
Workers' Rights / 1 October 2025
1 October 2025

Organised workers at the notoriously anti-union global giant are scoring victory after victory, and now international bodies are pitching in to finally force this figurehead of corporate capitalism to give in to unionisation, writes EMILIO AVELAR

CWU leader Dave Ward
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

CWU leader DAVE WARD tells Ben Chacko a strategy to unite workers on class lines is needed – and sectoral collective bargaining must be at its heart

 LIVES RUINED BY CORPORATE GREED: Trees sway in high winds a
Features / 20 January 2025
20 January 2025
California’s real-life water theft makes the classic Jack Nicholson film Chinatown look tame as a billionaire couple diverts resources and the climate crisis worsens the city’s peril, reports MARK GRUENBERG
Shoppers at the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY, stop by the
World / 20 December 2024
20 December 2024