Informational Picket to Support Starbucks Workers, Friday, May 27, 2022, at 11am.
Starbucks Workers are Unionizing in Rhode Island! On Friday May 27, 2022, at 11am, allies and workers will be holding an informational picket outside of the Starbuck at 25 Pace Blvd, Warwick, RI, to demonstrate solidarity. We urge anyone who wants to show their support to join the picket.
On April 6, 2022, Starbucks workers at the Pace Blvd store in Warwick became the first store in Rhode Island to file a petition to unionize.
Over 50 stores across the country have voted to unionize, as of May 2022. The union has won 85% of the elections held so far, and votes have been scheduled for more than100 other stores, in 30 states.
In Rhode Island, ballots have been released to the Pace Blvd Starbucks workers. They will submit their votes over the next couple of weeks, with the ballot count on June 14, 2022.
Starbucks has been aggressively fighting the union campaign. ”Starbucks has been acting very malignantly with all the unions. Things like firing people, things like cutting people’s hours, and that’s not the treatment of a corporation that actually cares,” said Cassie Burke, an employee at the Pace Blvd shop and union organizer.
Since April, people from all over Rhode Island have been showing their solidarity. When ordering at the Starbucks stores, they have been given different names to be written on their coffee cups, such as “Union Strong”, “Solidarity”, and “Union Yes”. They have also made sure to give cash tips, marking the bills with messages that echo the need for a union, with stickers stating “This Payment Made Possible By Union Wages”.
The unionizing workers feel very confident about voting to unionize. “We feel really good about where we are. Everyone’s on the same page; we’re ready to make this happen together.” Said Burke.