Starbucks partners at Minneapolis location join the growing list of workers looking to decertify Starbucks “Workers United” union

Minneapolis, MN (July 14, 2023) – Rebecca Person, an employee of the first floor Mall of America Starbucks location outside Minneapolis, MN, has just submitted a petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 18 that seek a vote to remove Starbucks Workers’ United (SBWU) union officials from their workplace. The Mall of America Starbucks is just the latest in a growing list of Starbucks locations where employees are seeking to oust union officials. Workers from locations in Manhattan, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo are also receiving free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys in union decertification efforts.

The union decertification petition contains signatures from a majority of workers at the Mall of America location. The majority support for removing the union is far more than the 30% requirement by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) needed to trigger the NLRB to hold a decertification vote among the workers.

With the workers’ petition filed with the NLRB, the NLRB’s rules dictate that a secret ballot election should be promptly scheduled to determine whether a majority of workers want to end union officials’ power to impose a contract, including forced dues, on the workers. Because Minnesota lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, SBWU union officials have the power to enter into an agreement with Starbucks that would require Person and her coworkers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of keeping their jobs. Meanwhile, in Right to Work states, union membership and financial support are strictly voluntary.

Starbucks Workers Increasingly Seek to Vote out SBWU Union Officials

The Mall of America Starbucks workers are just the latest example of Starbucks workers seeking to exercise their right to vote out unwanted union officials. Foundation attorneys are currently assisting Starbucks employees in Manhattan, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh, in obtaining union decertification votes.

As with the New York and Pennsylvania locations, the SBWU union only came to power at the Mall of America Starbucks a little over a year ago – meaning workers began attempts to vote out SBWU nearly as soon as legally allowed. Federal labor law prevents workers from exercising their right to remove an unpopular union at least one year after installed.

A contributing factor to the growing worker dissatisfaction with SBWU union officials may be the controversial practice of “salting,” which involves union officials surreptitiously paying union agents to obtain jobs at non-union workplaces to agitate for union control. “Salts” generally hide their union-allied status from both managers and their coworkers, and may quickly depart the workplace once a union has been installed. The New York Post reported that one SBWU union agent was paid nearly $50,000 to “salt” a Buffalo Starbucks location, and concealed her affiliation from both her coworkers and Congress.

The push for decertification votes at Starbucks is part of a growing trend, with the NLRB’s data showing a unionized private sector worker is far more likely to be involved in a decertification effort as their nonunion counterpart is to be involved in a unionization campaign. NLRB statistics also show a 20% increase in decertification petitions last year versus 2021. However, union officials still have many ways to manipulate federal labor law to prevent workers from voting them out, including by filing unrelated or unverified charges against management.

“The deceptive tactics SBWU officials took in gaining control of multiple Starbucks locations are finally coming back to haunt them,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Starbucks partners nationwide are seeing how the union organizers, including those secretly paid by the union pretending to be genuine coworkers, manipulated them to do what is best for union bosses but not in the best interests of rank-and-file workers.”

“These Starbucks workers have joined others in taking the first step in exercising their rights to oust an unwanted union, and we call on SBWU union officials and the NLRB to respect the wishes of these workers who simply want a prompt decertification vote,” continued Mix. “The right of workers to oust a union that lacks majority support should not be subjugated to the interests of incumbent union bosses seeking to retain power against the wishes of rank-and-file workers.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.