SAN ANTONIO — A Starbucks on the city’s north side is getting a lot of attention for becoming the first store in the state to join a nationwide unionization movement after filing a petition to the National Labor Relations Board late Monday night.
Baristas at the store on 410 and Vance Jackson sent a letter to company CEO Kevin Johnson explaining their desire to organize and announced they ‘are ready to finally be regarded as [a] partner, officially’. The chain refers to their employees as partners.
In another part of the letter, the organizing committee wrote that their store ‘already acts like a union. [Partners] want to take what we already have, put it on paper, legalize it, protect it, and expand our ability to advocate for [the store’s] needs and for each other’s dignity’.
Gaz Garcia is one of nine partners who signed their name on the letter. In a phone call late Tuesday, Garcia said his co-workers filed the petition to create a safer working environment, increase pay for employees and address other needs to operate the store smoothly.
A Starbucks spokeswoman said in a statement:
“We are listening and learning from the partners in these stores as we always do across the country. Starbucks success—past, present, and future—is built on how we partner together, always with Our Mission and Values at our core.
We’ve been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us, and that conviction has not changed. Rossann Williams, evp and president, North America, has also shared with our partners that we respect their right to organize and will bargain in good faith.
She also noted in a letter sent to all partners in December that “the vote outcomes will not change our shared purpose or how we will show up for each other. … We will keep listening, we will keep connecting and we will keep being in service of one another because that’s what we’ve always done and what it means to be partner.”
Garcia said the store met the requirement to start the unionization process but did not disclose the exact number in order to protect fellow employees.
Overwhelmed by the response from the public on Tuesday, he said they anticipate a wait on a NLRB vote due to the growing number of petitioning stores as they were the 65th store to file.
However, Garcia said he is hopeful his store will eventually have a seat at the bargaining table.
“I think it’s safe to say be you’ll be paying more if they win,” said Dr. David MacPherson, a E.M. Stevens Professor of Economics at Trinity University.
Dr. MacPherson said when a union is created wages and benefits go up, which impacts labor costs.
“That could either be reflected in higher costs to consumers or it’s going to be reflected in terms of having lower worker turnover, which will save the firm some money. It could also potentially lower profits but it’s likely a combination of all three,” said. Dr. MacPherson.
Garcia said he doesn’t believe a correlation exists and that coffee will go up in price because it already has and continues to increase, union or not. For now, he said the staff just wants to focus on improving the store until a vote happens.