Starbucks workers at Port Jefferson store join union

Workers at the Starbucks store in Port Jefferson are the latest of the chain’s Long Island employees to unionize.

The Port Jefferson Starbucks workers voted 10-1 on Wednesday to join the Starbucks Workers United union, according to a statement from the union. The Port Jeff store becomes the eighth Starbucks on Long Island to unionize.

In their petition filed with the National Labor Relations Board earlier this month, the workers at the Port Jeff store said they are seeking higher starting pay, fair and consistent scheduling, improved benefits, and a safe workplace.

“Unionization could offer a platform for fostering open dialogue, ensuring fair treatment, and collaboratively addressing issues that affect employees,” the petition read. “Partners are used as advertisement pieces, although that is not how we’re treated in reality. Our hours are constantly cut, in spite of up selling our products and periods of high sales volume. This is why we want to organize.”

The newest union votes come on the heels of a first week of bargaining between the company and the union, according to a union statement.

“We are eager to reach ratified agreements in 2024 for stores that have already voted for union representation,” Starbucks spokesperson Rachel Wall said in a company statementearlier this spring. “We respect the rights of our partners to organize and bargain collectively, and we are eager to reach ratified agreements in 2024 for represented stores.”

After the vote, Ryan Grabowski, who works at the Port Jefferson Starbucks said joining the union means being able to better serve the community.

“Our solidarity will get us the working conditions we need to provide the ‘Starbucks experience,’” he said in a written statement.

Since the union movement for Starbucks workers began with a successful vote at a store in Buffalo in Dec. 2021, there are now more than 10,000 union Starbucks workers in more than 435 union stores in 43 states and Washington D.C.

The Starbucks union is an affiliate of Philadelphia-based Workers United.

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