A Starbucks in Hillcrest has declared their intent to unionize making it the second Starbucks in San Diego to join the nationwide movement.
The employees of Starbucks located on University Avenue and Richmond Street, stated in a letter to Laxman Narasimhan, the CEO of Starbucks, that the conditions under which the employees work create “significant physical, emotional and financial strain.” Employees also state that they have had to power the store through generators after there was an electrical fire and that the generators have failed multiple times before and during business hours causing workers to lose work hours.
"These erratic circumstances devastate us financially and severely damage our mental health, but we are not allowed to use sick hours to compensate for lost scheduled hours," the letter read in part. "Through unionizing, we offer corporate Starbucks the opportunity to collaborate with us in creating measurable success."
The Hillcrest Starbucks is one of the hundreds of stores that have initiated to unionize across the country, just last month another Starbucks in Encinitas successfully unionized. The store employees voted 21-2 in favor of joining the Workers United Upstate labor union, according to the Union-Tribune.
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The next steps for the employees will be for the Starbucks location to have a majority of its partners sign union authorization cards and ask the Starbucks corporation for voluntary recognition, if Starbucks recognizes the union they can begin bargaining, if not, the location will have to file a petition for an election with the National Labor Relations Board.
More than 300 company-owned stores have voted to unionize since the first filing took place in August of 2021, but Starbucks and Workers United have yet to agree to a contract, according to CNBC.
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There are currently more than 9,000 company-owned Starbucks locations in the U.S.
