Business is flowing Tuesday, March 28, 2023, at the Starbucks on Plaza Way, Walla Walla. Workers at the coffee shop have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to unionize with Starbucks Workers United.

WALLA WALLA — Workers at the Plaza Way Starbucks in Walla Walla filed a petition last week with the National Labor Relations Board to unionize with Starbucks Workers United.

It is unclear if other locations in Walla Walla are looking to unionize as well.

A news release from Starbucks Workers United said the employees of the Starbucks on Plaza Way are joining the now “nationwide movement of hundreds of stores and thousands of baristas organizing for better working conditions.”

The news release said Starbucks Workers United has established more new unions in the past 12 months than any other U.S. company within the past two decades. As of now, more than 290 Starbucks locations across 42 states and the District of Columbia have effectively unionized.

In the news release, Dana Ayers, an organizer and employee at the Walla Walla location, said she was disappointed in what Starbucks has become.

“Being a partner for almost two decades, I should feel valued, respected, and heard by this company,” Ayers said. “Starbucks corporate says they will commit to improving conditions, but they rarely follow through. Actions speak louder than words, and I’m ready to hold corporate accountable.”

A letter was sent by the Starbucks Workers United Organizing Committee for the Walla Walla location to Howard Schultz, who served as interim CEO of Starbucks, and Laxman Narasimhan, current CEO of Starbucks, to inform them of the location’s organizing campaign. The letter detailed the obstacles faced by workers because of small crews and high turnover rates, among other issues.

“We are unionizing because we are tired of having to skip our breaks when we have a line into the street with less than a skeleton crew on the floor,” the letter stated. “While most of our partners are getting less than a livable amount of hours, management is talking about hiring six more partners.”

The letter describes how employees have felt stressed to the point of needing mental health days.

“Many are considering alternate employment and even more have already left,” the letter stated.

The closing statement said members of the Starbucks Workers United Organizing Committee are convinced that forming a union is the best strategy for achieving the goals outlined in the letter.

Andrew Trull, a Starbucks spokesperson, said in an email to the Union-Bulletin that the company’s decisions are based on established policies and legal precedents related to labor and employment law that have been in place for 80 years.

“We have fully honored the process laid out by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and have consistently encouraged our partners to exercise their right to vote in union elections,” Trull said.

“Our focus has, and continues to be, on working side-by-side with our partners to listen, learn and reinvent the Starbucks experience. Our hope is the union would respect our right to listen to, collaborate with and share information and our perspective with our partners — just as we respect their right to do so.”

Trull said the company is committed to protecting the rights of employees to engage in union activity.

“Starbucks trains managers that no partner will be disciplined for engaging in lawful union activity and that there will be no tolerance for any unlawful anti-union behavior, if ever found to be true,” Trull’s email said.

On March 29, during a Senate hearing titled “No Company is Above the Law: The Need to End Illegal Union Busting at Starbucks,” U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington questioned Schultz about the company’s anti-union efforts.

The National Labor Relations Board — NLRB — has issued over 500 open or settled unfair labor practice charges against Starbucks. The charges include allegations that Starbucks engaged in retaliatory termination, withheld benefits, interrogated workers and failed to bargain in good faith with unionized employees.

Starbucks is embroiled in extensive litigation with the NLRB before both NLRB judges and in federal courts.