Mass Ave Starbucks looks to be first Indianapolis shop to form a union
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Workers at a downtown Indianapolis Starbucks look to be the first to unionize within city limits.
Baristas and shift supervisors for the location on Massachusetts Avenue filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on July 2.
They hope to join Starbucks Workers United, a Service Employees International Union affiliate.
According to a Facebook post by the union, the Mass. Ave. store joins 14 other locations that are looking to unionize this month.
In a statement to News 8, Starbucks Spokesperson Jay Go Guasch says the company is looking to improve conditions for all its workers, which it calls partners.
“At Starbucks we believe that our direct relationship as partners is core to the experiences we create in our stores,” Guasch said. “We respect our partners rights to have a choice on the topic of unions.”
The efforts come on the heels of a Supreme Court case directly involving Starbucks and the union.
In June, the court ruled in favor of the company, making it harder for the National Labor Relations Board to intervene in labor disputes.
The justices raised the standards required for the agency to obtain a court order when it’s looking to protect the jobs of workers during an organizing campaign.
They unanimously rejected a rule that allowed the courts to issue orders and injunctions if they found requests by the NLRB to be “just and proper.”
The agency argued the National Labor Relations Act didn’t require it to prove other factors when making requests for court orders.
Meanwhile, Starbucks sought higher thresholds for the orders to be granted.
Organized labor has criticized Starbucks for interfering with unionization campaigns in the past.
The decision stems from a February 2022 case in which seven workers for a Memphis, Tennessee Starbucks were fired. They were trying to unionize their store.
The company says their termination was unrelated to the organizing campaign.
According to a Starbucks, the employees entered the store after hours, opened the safe without approval and brought in others not affiliated to the store. The employees then hosted interviews with media behind the counter.
In a court order obtained by the NLRB, a judge forced the company to rehire those workers while the case proceeded through the agency.
The company appealed the order all the way to the Supreme Court.
That Memphis store voted to unionize in June 2022.
In Indiana, seven other Starbucks stores are currently unionized. That includes locations in Clarksville, Valparaiso, and two stores in Bloomington.
Most recently, workers at two Plainfield Starbucks formed a union following an election in January.
On its website, SB Workers United says it represents more than 10,500 workers at more than 460 shops.
Notably, none of those stores have successfully negotiated a contract with Starbucks.
The union and the company started negotiations in April. The company has said it looks to have contracts approved by the union this year.
Workers at the Mass. Ave. Starbucks will vote on whether or not to form a union this Wednesday.