PORTLAND, Ore. — Three Starbucks locations in Portland are joining recent unionization efforts within the food and beverage giant.
Monday morning, Starbucks’ labor union tweeted a flurry of new petitions to unionize at stores across the country, including Portland’s Garden Home Road location and Beaverton’s Walker Road and Cedar Hills Crossing locations.
“You ask us to create the Third Place for customers, but we deserve the same Third Place, one that is safe from harassment, bullying, and interference in our democratic rights,” workers at the Walker Road location said in a statement.
The Garden Home location was closed during some normal business hours last week, Portland Business Journal reported, but it was not clear if its closure and the recent unionization push are related.
Workers United, a branch of the Service Employees International Union that is organizing Starbucks’ efforts, also said Monday that 13 other locations along with the Portland stores filed for union elections with the National Labor Relations Board. These filings all come shortly after workers at a Buffalo, New York Starbucks voted to unionize last month.
“Our movement is only growing. Partners around the country are standing up for what’s right and we couldn’t be more inspired!” the Starbucks Workers United page tweeted Monday.
Portland Business Journal has reached out to both the labor union and Starbucks’ corporate office for comment.
