MoneyBusiness

Actions

Workers unionize at flagship Seattle Starbucks roastery

Workers unionize at flagship Seattle Starbucks roastery
Starbucks
Posted
and last updated

Starbucks workers at the coffee giant's flagship roastery in Seattle have voted to form a union, the chain's latest location to form a collective bargaining unit.

The Seattle store voted Thursday 38-27 to unionize. Workers United said 26 Starbucks locations have unionized nationwide. The Starbucks Reserve and Roastery in the Capitol Hill neighborhood is the business's second to unionize in its hometown of Seattle. Starbucks spokesman Reggie Borges says in a statement the company will respect the process and bargain in good faith.

Longtime Starbucks leader Howard Schultz returned to the company as interim CEO in early April. Among his first actions was suspending Starbucks' $20 million share buyback program to invest more profits in employees and stores. Starbucks shares fell 4% on the news. The pivot in strategy comes just three weeks after Starbucks announced that Schultz would be taking over the company’s top role until it finds a permanent CEO. Schultz could be feeling some heat from a growing unionization effort.

Six of the company's 9,000 U.S. stores had unionized at that time, and at least 170 more have filed to hold union elections.

,

Weather

Daily Forecast

View Hourly Forecast

Day

Conditions

HI / LO

Precip

Friday

11/07/2025

Partly Cloudy

69° / 51°

3%

Saturday

11/08/2025

Sunny

76° / 52°

4%

Sunday

11/09/2025

Sunny

83° / 54°

2%

Monday

11/10/2025

Partly Cloudy

80° / 56°

0%

Tuesday

11/11/2025

Partly Cloudy

80° / 59°

0%

Wednesday

11/12/2025

Partly Cloudy

77° / 57°

0%

Thursday

11/13/2025

PM Showers

72° / 53°

33%

Friday

11/14/2025

Showers

60° / 50°

58%