Baristas at the Starbucks location at the Shoppes at College Hills in Normal have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to unionize.
If a majority of the store's nearly 30 baristas and shift managers vote yes in mid-December, the 307 S. Veterans Parkway location will join more than 520 Starbucks in the U.S. as part of Starbucks Workers United. That includes 30 locations in Illinois.
Ava Koets of Normal is a student at Heartland Community College who has worked at that Starbucks location part-time for over two years, starting when she was in high school.
“I feel I kind of grew up with the job,” Koets said, adding that she loved working there when she started, but it's no longer the same.
She said times have changed and she feels it’s time for Starbucks employees to have a voice.
“There’s a lot of misuse of power, and I would just like to see some change in a positive way because I feel like Starbucks, it’s shifted away from the core values that they stand by,” Koets said.
Koets is now leading the union effort and is confident it will pass.
“It’s a big deal to speak up in any situation not just the workplace,” Koets said. “Especially since all of us are so young. A lot of people struggle speaking up. It’s really empowering with what we have created with our store.”
The union asks for a base wage of $20 per hour for baristas, with annual raises of 5% and additional raises that award longevity, plus automatic enrollment into a company retirement program.
Koets said the union effort is not about money for her. She said she makes close to $16 per hour working part-time and she works a second job.
She said too often managers do not stick up for employees, who she said have been bullied by coworkers without consequence. And, she said managers often schedule baristas to work shifts when they are unavailable, as many of them work other jobs while still attending school.
The first Starbucks unionized in 2021.
The union outlined its reasons for unionizing in a letter sent to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol.
Starbucks spokesperson Phil Gee responded in a statement that “we believe that our direct relationship as partners is core to the experiences we create in our stores, and we respect our partners rights to have a choice on the topic of unions.”
