Starbucks workers in Asheville didn’t have enough votes to form a union. Employees who work at the coffee shop on Charlotte Street held a vote on Wednesday, rejecting the move 11(no) to 6(yes).
Madeline Robbana helped organize the campaign. Before the vote, she said that rising costs in Asheville aren’t sustainable for those working in the service industry.
“A lot of these servers and bartenders are still having to pay to park where they work. They don’t get the time off that they need, and they are working for hours that aren’t paying their rent," said Robbana. "So we need change, we need change here. And I think that it starts out of the community."
The group worked with SEIU-affiliate, Starbucks Workers United. Baristas at a Starbucks in Boone became the first in North Carolina to unionize in April. Employees at a Raleigh branch recently voted against the move. More than
Robanna said she hoped the union would have focused on raising the wages at Starbucks from $12 per hour to at least the living wage in Asheville: $17.70 an hour.
“Rent is spiking up in outrageous ways and I think that we work hard. Especially in comparison to our profits. Twelve dollars an hour that’s two drinks an hour. I’m making so much more for this company and we need to see some of that share,” said Robanna.
Starbucksannounced earlier this month that it would be making additional investments in store for priorities including “increased pay, modernized training and collaboration, store innovation, and the celebration of coffee.”
Starting August 1st, Starbucks is moving all “U.S. store partners” to a $15/hour floor. At that time, the average hourly pay at Starbucks will be nearly $17/hour nationally, according to the company. All employees hired on or before May 2 will get either a 3% raise or $15/hour, whichever is higher. Starbucks says that these changes will only be made at stores where the organization has “the right to unilaterally make these changes.”
Starbucks management who attended the count declined to give the Asheville Citizen Timescomment upon leaving the voting room.
A Starbucks spokesperson had this comment:
“We are listening and learning from the partners in these stores as we always do across the country. From the beginning, 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. We respect our partner’s right to organize and are committed to following the NLRB process.”
