Labor & Employment

For the first time, an Oregon Starbucks has unionized

By Brian Bull, OPB staff

Published April 14, 2022 at 2:08 PM PDT

Jake LaMourie, a barista with the South Eugene Starbucks on Willamette Street, shortly after the vote to approve the formation of a union at his store. April 13, 2022.

A Starbucks store in Eugene has become the first in the state to unionize after a unanimous vote on Wednesday.

Workers in Eugene are the first Starbucks employees in Oregon to unionize.

The vote was streamed from the National Labor Relations Board. When all 17 votes from the south Eugene location were counted, the union had won unanimous approval.

This is the fourth U.S. Starbucks location in the past three days to win their union vote unanimously, including one in Pittsburgh that also voted to unionize on Wednesday.

All eight Starbucks stores in Eugene have filed for a union election, according to the nonprofit More Perfect Union. The seven remaining Eugene locations are among 180 Starbucks across the U.S. with union votes scheduled in the coming months.

Roughly 20 Starbucks workers and allies respond to the unanimous approval of a union on Wednesday, April 13, 2022.

“There’s a bunch more behind us in Eugene, and a bunch more in Portland, we’re so excited to get to work on a contract, and so glad that this went through,” said Jake LaMourie, a barista who helped organize the union push during the winter.

LaMourie said the unionization vote is just the beginning. Next up: negotiations, which could take a year, perhaps longer.

A request for comment to Starbucks was not returned in time for this story.
Copyright 2022 Oregon Public Broadcasting