Midlands Starbucks workers unionize, joining other SC stores after national hiccups
More South Carolina workers at the world’s largest coffee chain secured more protections by joining a rapidly growing union, despite blocks in other states.
Baristas at a Starbucks in Newberry, located off of Wilson Road near the intersection with Main Street,voted on Monday to join Starbucks Workers United, a bargaining representative that represents more than 440 Starbucks stores and more than 10,000 workers in the United States, the union announced Tuesday. The Newberry location brings the number of unionized stores in South Carolina to six, according to a news release by Starbucks Workers United.
“We are so excited to be making a change for not only our future but for future partners as well. What a great victory for a small southern town. I’m thrilled we could all come together and make this change for the better. We are excited to join the bargaining and to see what happens next.” Chesney Bolton, who has worked as a shift supervisor for three years, said in the release.
At least one other Starbucks in the Midlands is unionized. The shop on Millwood Avenue in Columbia became South Carolina’s third unionized Starbucks in the summer of 2022, when workers there voted unanimously to join the Starbucks Workers United union a few months after a three-day strike. At the time, workers there said some of their workplace concerns included a lack of non-cash tipping options, not having enough employees per shift and not being given seniority pay.
The Newberry location joins “a growing nationwide movement of 10,500 baristas joining together to win justice at work, including protections on core issues like respect, living wages, racial and gender equity, and fair scheduling,” Tuesday’s news release said. “The historic organizing campaign hinges on peer-to-peer organizing led by workers, for workers – and has won election after election in stores nationwide.”
In addition to South Carolina, workers in California, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon and Pennsylvania have also recently decided to join the national union.
More than 430 Starbucks locations across 43 states have decided to unionize since 2021, according to the union’s news release. That’s “more than any other company in the 21st Century, as Starbucks Workers United has taken the industry and world by storm,” the release said.
