500th Starbucks Location Votes to Unionize

     Today is a historic day for American labor. Less than three years after employees at Starbucks locations in Buffalo, New York, became the first in the nation to vote to unionize, the location at Bellingham, Washington, has become the 500th to be unionized. 

     Starbucks Workers United now represents some 12,000 employees in 43 states. SBWU only recently celebrated the 10,000 employee mark, and nearly 2,000 more have been added in just a few weeks. This is just the beginning. We need to unionize Starbucks locations in every state around the country. We need to push the number of unionized employees to 19,000, which represents five percent of all Starbucks employees nationwide. We need to win elections at 1,000 locations nationwide. After that, we need to push until every possible Starbucks employee wins a fair wage and comfortable living around the world.

     This is an opportunity to remind all folks who belong to a union or support the right to organize that one of the key reasons this success has been possible is the support of the National Labor Relations Board, which certifies these elections and mediates disputes. President Biden appointed the pro-labor Democratic majority on the board, signed executive actions strengthening the right to organize, and became the first president to walk a picket line.

     The figure President Biden entrusted to lead his administration's efforts to protect the right to organize was Kamala Harris, who will continue to protect and expand this freedom. Donald Trump praised Elon Musk for firing workers who tried to organize and, as president, repealed union protections for federal employees. Through Project 2025 and his own NLRB appointments, a second Trump term would kill the right to organize.

     Therefore, we have to organize against a second Trump term as we continue to support organizers directly. To help elect Kamala Harris, click here. To support SBWU, click here.