Iowa City Starbucks Files to Unionize the Same Week Ex-CEO Grilled in Senate

A Starbucks coffee shop in Iowa City is the first Starbucks in the state to file for union representation. The move occurred just two days before the company’s former CEO was asked to testify before a US Senate committee for union busting.

Thirty-one workers at the Burlington and Clinton Starbucks, at 228 South Clinton St., Iowa City, filed their intent on Monday to hold a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The election will cover all full- and part-time baristas and shift supervisors, some of whom posted their reasons for wanting to unionize in a video shared by Starbucks Workers United (SBWU), the union covering other employee groups across the country.

“In the nearly two years I’ve been with Starbucks, I’ve learned how much I value a workplace that is safe for employees, efficient for customers, and fun for everyone,” said Molly Belvo, an employee and organizer of the effort in Iowa City. “Instead of prioritizing these essential company standards, those at the very top of this company are focused solely on making record profits. Unionizing will ensure these needs are met and create the best environment possible.”

The March Madness wins for Iowa continue off the court!

Burlington & Clinton in Iowa City is the first store in the state to file for a union election!! pic.twitter.com/tO1qjWrXIu

— Starbucks Workers United (@SBWorkersUnited) March 27, 2023

If successful, the employees will join thousands of Starbucks employees at 293 stores in 37 states now being represented by SBWU, affiliated with the larger Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

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However, Starbucks has so far refused to bargain with any of those employee unions. SBWU has filed hundreds of unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB, including that it illegally fired workers, shut down stores that were unionizing, threatened workers, and withheld benefits it was offering to non-unionized stores from locations that had unionized.

The chain’s now-former CEO, Howard Schultz, was subpoenaed and questioned in the US Senate Wednesday about those violations.

“For far too long, Starbucks and its multibillionaire owner have acted as though those laws do not apply to them,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) said in a release, calling the coffee chain “the most aggressive union-busting company in America.”

LIVE: No company is above the law. The HELP Committee is holding a hearing NOW on the need to end illegal union busting at Starbucks. https://t.co/gfg8yMN680

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 29, 2023

by Amie Rivers
3/23/23

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