Buffalo Starbucks Union Effort Picks Up Major Win From Federal Labor Judge

A unionization attempt at a Starbucks in Buffalo, New York picked up a big win when a federal labor judge found that Starbucks violated labor laws "hundreds of times."

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According to a report by Dee-Ann Durbin for the Associated Press, Administrative Law Judge Michael Rosas of the National Labor Relations Board found that Starbucks violated labor laws "hundreds of times" during a recent unionization effort by workers at a Buffalo, New York store.

Starbucks has subsequently been ordered to reinstate seven fired workers, provide financial restitution for 27 other workers, and post a 13-page notice listing its labor violations and workers' rights in all Starbucks locations in the United States. Additionally, Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz must read or be present at a reading of employees' rights. After the reading, Starbucks must distribute a copy of the recording to all of the company's employees in the United States.

Michelle Eisen, a barista at Starbucks and a union organizer in Buffalo, told the Associated Press "This decision results from months of tireless organizing by workers in cafes across the country, demanding better working conditions in the face of historical, monumental, and now deemed illegal union-busting."

The Buffalo Starbucks location was the first to attempt to unionize in decades after they voted for the union in 2021. Since then, nearly 300 Starbucks locations have voted to unionize.

Among the stores following the lead of the Buffalo Starbucks is one on the Vestal Parkway here in the Binghamton area. According to a report by WNBF's Bob Joseph, the 2540 Vestal Parkway East Starbucks location voted to unionize this past summer.