A Starbucks worker wears a T-shirt and button promoting unionization on April 7, 2022, in Chicago.
John J. Kim | Chicago Tribune | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
Starbucks Chief Executive Brian Niccol said the coffee chain is committed to negotiating in good faith with the union that represents many of its baristas as the two sides work toward a labor agreement.
“I deeply respect the right of partners to choose, through a fair and democratic process, to be represented by a union,” Niccol wrote Tuesday in a letter to the union obtained by CNBC. “If our partners choose to be represented, I am committed to ensuring that we engage constructively and in good faith with the union and the partners it represents.”
He responded to a letter sent a day earlier by the Starbucks Workers United bargaining delegation, ahead of another bargaining session between Starbucks and the union. The two sides are negotiating a framework that would be the basis for collective bargaining agreements between individual stores and the company. The union is pushing for fair schedules, a living wage and racial and gender equity, the delegation said in its letter.
“We know that many of your loyal customers — as well as future generations of customers — have a vested interest in the outcome of our negotiations and in reaching a fundamental agreement,” the group wrote in its letter to Niccol.
Three years ago, Starbucks baristas began unionizing under Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. For two and a half years, the coffee giant tried to block the union drive, leading to battles that played out in headlines, on social media and in the courts.
But the turning point for both sides came six months ago when they agreed to work together on a way forward after mediation to resolve claims sparked by the union's social media posts.
Niccol joined Starbucks several weeks ago, making him a newcomer to the union discussions. In his previous role as Starbucks CEO, Chipotle Mexican GrillOnly one location, in Lansing, Michigan, succeeded in unionizing. Last year, the burrito chain agreed to pay former employees at an Augusta, Maine, location $240,000 as part of a settlement for closing the restaurant when workers tried to unionize. Chipotle denied any wrongdoing.
Today, Workers United represents more than 490 Starbucks stores in the United States and more than 10,500 of its employees. The company has more than 16,700 stores in the United States, more than half of which it owns.
