PITTSBURGH, Pa (PTTP) – The Bloomfield Starbucks is the first Pittsburgh store within the franchise to unionize. The employees are fighting against the company, which stands against unionization.
They are seeking to join Workers United in North America under the hospitality, manufacturing, apparel, and textile industries. Employees state that they are interested in unionizing due to the poor workplace conditions, and the low pay rates. There are only roughly fifty Starbucks across the country that are under the process of unionization at this time.
To quote a letter written by organizers to Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, the Bloomfield Starbucks employees stated “Please remember that the core of Starbucks is not just the coffee and customers — the core of Starbucks is its partners (employees)…“Pittsburgh is a union town — it is our turn to join that history.”