Starbucks Arizona union election ordered by US labour board

[SAN FRANCISCO] A US labour official granted a request by Arizona workers at Starbucks to hold an election that could expand the new unionized foothold at the retail coffee chain, rejecting the company's arguments against holding store-by-store votes.

In a Friday ruling, the National Labor Relations Board's regional director ordered that ballots be mailed out Jan 14 to employees at a store in Mesa, Arizona, who will have until Jan 28th to return them.

The regional director wrote that "given the lack of centralised control and employee interchange" among stores, the labour board did not need to depart from its standard position that the employees of a single worksite constitute an appropriate voter pool for a union election.

A Starbucks spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ruling follows a landmark labour victory last month in which Starbucks employees in New York voted to establish the sole unionised restaurant among the coffee chain's thousands of corporate-run US sites.

Since then, employees in cities including Boston, Chicago, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Starbucks' hometown of Seattle all have petitioned to unionize with the same labor group as the New York and Arizona workers, the Service Employees International Union affiliate Workers United.

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The union has petitioned to overturn its loss at a second New York store over alleged misconduct, while results at a third hinge on voter eligibility disputes.

Employees at the newly unionised store have been mounting a strike since Wednesday over what they say are insufficient Covid-19 safeguards and staffing.

Starbucks has said it exceeds guidelines from experts and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

BLOOMBERG