Employees at Vestal Parkway Starbucks Location Vote to Unionize

Workers at one Broome County Starbucks coffee shop have voted in favor of being represented by a union.

Alexandra Yeager, who had successfully organized a Starbucks location in Albany, said the shop at 2540 Vestal Parkway East where she currently works at "is now a union store."

The employee vote in favor of being represented by Starbucks Workers United was 9 to 4. There now are about 230 Starbucks locations where employees have voted for the union.

The Vestal Parkway vote came just over two months after workers sent a letter to Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz. The letter advised Schultz that the employees "want to be able to have our voices heard while working towards a healthy partnership with Starbucks."

The message also said: "Partners within our store have experienced being scheduled outside of their prospective availability, shift supervisors being forced to stay past their out times, and management not accepting availability request changes in a timely manner."

There are about 9,000 Starbucks locations in the United States. In recent months, the company has closed some stores, citing safety issues. But union representatives have said they believe the closings are in retaliation for efforts by workers to organize.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com or (607) 545-2250. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.