2 Twin Cities Starbucks stores try to unionize

Two Twin Cities Starbucks locations want to unionize.

The Chicago & Midwest Regional Joint Board of Workers United (CMRJB) says employees at the Snelling Avenue St. Paul location and the Cedar Avenue store in Minneapolis are demanding union recognition from company CEO Kevin Johnson and local management.

The CMRJB says “an overwhelming majority” of workers at both stores signed union authorization cards, making them the first in the state to join the Starbucks Workers United movement.

More than 70 other Starbucks locations across the U.S. have also filed for elections.

A letter from the St. Paul employees to Johnson said, in part:

“We as workers at Starbucks invest our time, well-being and safety into a company that has shown repeated apathy towards its employees. We work in the midst of an ongoing global health crisis, and see little to no support…We want to see Starbucks become a healthier and more equitable workplace… We are organizing a union at the Snelling and Stanford store in Saint Paul to improve our workplace for ourselves, for members of our community, and for Starbucks as a whole.”

St. Paul (Snelling Ave.) Starbucks employees