Two more Long Island Starbucks vote to join union

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Workers at two more Starbucks stores on Long Island voted Wednesday to join the union. 

Employees at the Starbucks in Garden City elected to join the Starbucks Workers United union by a vote of seven to three, while the vote in the election at the Starbucks in the Village of Westbury was six to five, according to a union statement. 

Both Long Island stores filed Feb. 20 to hold union elections, the same day that 19 other Starbucks stores nationwide also filed, the union said. 

“Winning a union, for me, means more decision making with the partners’ experience in mind. It will allow us to determine what policies and practices will best help our business flourish, while giving us the tools and resources to accomplish our work without undue hardship,” Savannah Benatar, an employee at the Westbury Starbucks, said in the statement. “Doing so will protect our interests as workers, but also allow us to shift back our focus to the main reason we work as baristas: connecting over coffee with our community.” 

Leeana Lee, who works at the Starbucks in Garden City, said joining the union represents “a pivotal moment in championing workers’ rights” and ensuring fair treatment within the company. 

“It signifies a positive shift towards creating a more inclusive and empowered workforce where we actually have a voice,” she said in the statement. “Ultimately, this victory gives me hope that it can go back to being somewhere I enjoy working at again.” 

In an emailed statement, Starbucks spokesperson Rachel Wall said the company is committed to delivering on its promise to offer a bridge to a better future to all Starbucks partners. 

“On February 27, the company and Workers United agreed to begin discussions on a foundational framework designed to help achieve ratified bargaining agreements, resolve certain litigation and address other issues,” Wall said in the statement. “We are eager to reach ratified agreements in 2024 for stores that have already voted for union representation. We respect the rights of our partners to organize and bargain collectively, and we are eager to reach ratified agreements in 2024 for represented stores.” 

Since the union movement for Starbucks workers began with a successful vote at a store in Buffalo in Dec. 2021, there are now more than 10,000 union Starbucks workers in more than 415 union stores in 43 states and Washington D.C.  

The Starbucks union is an affiliate of Philadelphia-based Workers United.