Workers at Durham Starbucks Land Union Victory

Workers at a Starbucks location in Durham voted overwhelmingly in favor of forming a union yesterday, making their store the first unionized Starbucks in the Triangle and the third in the state.

The 16-2 victory at the store comes during an eventful two years for the corporate behemoth, after a group of Buffalo Starbucks’ filed union election petitions in August of 2021 and a swath of stores across the country followed suit.

Since then, union momentum has faced setbacks during a fierce anti-union campaign by the corporation—of the seven Starbucks stores in North Carolina that have held elections in the past few years, four have failed—but Workers United, the parent union of Starbucks Workers United, now has more than 9,000 members. The corporation itself has also faced challenges: In November, it saw a $11 billion loss as shares took a dramatic 8.96 percent dive amid boycotts of Starbucks’ stance on the conflict in Gaza. On Friday, the coffee chain announced that it wanted to restart bargaining talks after a six-month impasse.

In Durham, workers at the 8210 Renaissance Parkway store say they began quiet organizing talks during the summer.

Shift supervisor Russell Calzaretta helped to kick off the effort after a particularly taxing shift in August. Several workers had called out of the shift, Calzaretta says. Because Starbucks keeps all of its ordering channels open, regardless of staffing, the employees on duty had been stretched thin while juggling in-person customers, mobile Starbucks orders, and orders from third-party delivery services.

“It was one of those moments where I wanted to take off my apron and just leave for good,” Calzaretta says. “But then I thought about all of the other people that I work with. I was like, if I leave now, then I’m doing what Starbucks wants me to do—you know, ‘don’t make any noise, just leave peacefully when you’re dissatisfied.’”

After clocking out of that shift, Calzaretta sat in his car and began researching Starbucks Workers United (SWU), the bargaining unit that represents the 300-plus unionized Starbucks locations in the U.S. He made contact with a union representative, who offered guidance and educational materials. Then he formed an organizing committee with two coworkers.

“The early process was very hush hush,” Calzaretta says. “We knew that if word got out before we were ready, we would be bombarded by district managers and regional managers trying to talk people out of it before we could even educate ourselves.”

The organizing committee gauged a high level of union interest among staff. Everyone seemed frustrated about the same issues: wages, staffing, and inconsistent scheduling. 

“You have to work a certain amount of hours to be eligible for benefits,” says Calzaretta, citing medical, vision, and dental plans, as well as a program that covers tuition costs for workers to get an online degree from Arizona State University. “Since scheduling is so inconsistent, there are employees who pick up shifts at three or four other Starbucks stores every week to meet the quota for hours and keep their healthcare and education.”

In October, the organizing committee filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The cat was out of the bag.

“Managers started to hear about it and have conversations with us,”  Calzaretta says. “The conversations started off really peaceful. They would say, ‘all we care about is that you educate themselves and vote in the way you think will work best for you.’”

Things shifted when workers put out a letter of intent to unionize signed by nearly every employee in the store. Managers began pulling workers to the side mid-shift and explicitly telling them to vote against the union, Calzaretta says.

“It was discouraging,” Calzaretta says. “It was scary. But we all kind of metaphorically huddled together in the corner, turned our back to everything, and just took the brunt force of it.”

In a statement to the INDY, a spokesperson for Starbucks wrote that the company “fully honored the process laid out by the NLRB and encouraged our partners to exercise their right to vote in the election to have their voice heard.”

“We respect our partners’ right to organize, freely associate, engage in lawful union activities and bargain collectively without fear of reprisal or retaliation,” the spokesperson wrote. “While we continue to believe we can do more to elevate the partner experience at Starbucks by working shoulder-to-shoulder than across a negotiating table, we respect our partners decision at our Renaissance Center Durham location to elect union representation.”

Once the NLRB certifies the outcome of the election, a representative from the store can initiate the bargaining process, the spokesperson wrote.

Calzaretta, who had no organizing experience before this effort, attributes the success at the Durham store to assistance from SWU union representatives, community support, and the courage and collective resilience of his coworkers.

“Starbucks calls its workers ‘partners’ instead of ‘employees’ to suggest that employees are not just a number to them; that we’re helping to build this great company that has all of these great values,” Calzaretta says. “So we’re asking Starbucks to actually see that through—we’re asking them to come to the table and meet us, the partners, in good faith.”

Follow Staff Writer Lena Geller on Twitter or send an email to [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].

Support independent local journalism. 

Join the INDY Press Club to help us keep fearless watchdog reporting and essential arts and culture coverage viable in the Triangle.