MISSOULA - The Starbucks on Brooks and Central in Missoula has an important vote coming up on Friday, June 23, 2023, for the fate of its unionizing efforts.
MTN News has been speaking with some of the partners since they initially sent their letter of intent to unionize to Starbucks, so what does this vote mean for the store?
Essentially, if all goes well on Friday, they can begin negotiating a bargaining contract with Starbucks that will determine things such as how their hours can be managed, their wages, safety precautions — and anything else related to working conditions.
Employees staged a buy-in where on Wednesday morning where customers could come in and voice their support for the union by purchasing drinks and pastries — or offer words of encouragement to the partners. However, this wasn’t the only intent behind staging this buy-in.
“Kind of [the] other side of this other than like encouraging us through this whole process the other side of this is that it shows the company that unions are profitable because the community shows up in support of it and they spend money in support of it and I think that’s something that kind of gets them [Starbucks] thinking a little bit," Barista Kate Alexander, one of the employees who sent the letter of intent to Starbucks, explained.
The vote on Friday will be a manual election at Starbucks, which according to Alexander is not an ideal situation for some of the partners. “We have some people who will be out of the country or out of town and will not have the opportunity to come in and vote and make their voice heard.”
Heading into the vote Alexander says she is optimistic for the future of this store.
Due to the vote on Friday, the Starbucks at Brooks Street and Central Avenue will be closed for the day.
