Workers at two Starbucks stores in Santa Cruz have unionized, becoming the first stores in California to join the ballooning ranks of the coffee giant's organized baristas and shift supervisors.
Workers at both Santa Cruz stores voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining the national union, called Workers United. Thirteen workers at the store by the intersection of Ocean and Water streets voted in favor of the union, with one voting against. At the store on Mission and Dufour, 15 voted for and two against.
The wins, tallied Tuesday, have added to the momentum of a union campaign that went public in late August and reversed decades of failed attempts to form unions at Starbucks. They come as workers at well over 200 Starbucks stores have filed petitions for union elections and more than 50 stores have voted to join the national union Workers United since December.
