MOA Starbucks workers take 1st step toward unionization

Starbucks workers at Mall of America have taken the first step toward unionizing.

Thursday morning, hourly workers at the Starbucks on MOA’s first floor filed for union recognition, making it the fifth Minnesota Starbucks location to do so.

Starbucks employees across the country have begun filing for union recognition after the National Labor Relations Board certified the first union at a Starbucks store — in Buffalo, New York — in December. That includes employees at the Snelling Avenue St. Paul location, the Cedar Avenue Minneapolis location, the site at 54th Street and Lyndale Avenue South in Minneapolis, and a store in St. Anthony.

According to Workers United, workers at over a dozen Starbucks locations have won union recognition across the U.S., and workers at more than 200 locations have filed for recognition.

Workers United says a majority of employees at the MOA location signed union authorization cards and sent a letter to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, saying in part:

“We, the partners of store 02705 at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN, are proud to announce our intent to join in solidarity with our fellow partners by filing for union recognition with Starbucks Workers United. In doing so, we believe we are upholding the mission and values that were once celebrated – to nurture the human spirit; one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”

Starbucks has said in previous statements that it believes “we are better together as partners, without a union between us,” but has pledged to bargain in good faith.