Astor Place Starbucks workers vote in favor of union

Workers at a Starbucks in the East Village have voted to unionize, making the outpost the chain’s second New York City store to organize, the union said Friday.

Eleven workers at a Starbucks on Astor Place, at the corner of Lafayette Street, voted in favor of unionizing, winning out against two “no” votes, Starbucks Workers United said in a press release.

The National Labor Relations Board counted the votes Friday morning after holding a mail-in election, the release said. Five additional ballots have been challenged, according to the release.

“Winning the election for us is huge. It means we are a step closer towards a better future for Starbucks partners,” Astor Place Starbucks employee Owen Burnham said in a statement. “Our partners and organizing committee have faced adversity with resilience, and this win makes it all worth it.”

In a statement provided to NY1 on Friday, a Starbucks spokesperson said the chain was “listening and learning from the partners in these stores as we always do across the country.”

“From the beginning, we’ve been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us, and that conviction has not changed,” the spokesperson said. “We respect our partner’s right to organize and are committed to following the NLRB process.”

The Astor Place victory came nearly a month after Starbucks’ New York City flagship store, the Reserve Roastery in Chelsea, became the first Starbucks in the five boroughs to unionize.

A Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, meanwhile, became the first Starbucks outpost in the U.S. to unionize when its workers voted 19-8 in favor of unionizing in December.

As of Friday, 41 Starbucks outposts across the country had voted in favor of organizing, Starbucks Workers United said in its release.

And on Monday, May 2, the NLRB will count ballots from union votes at a Starbucks at Ceasar’s Bay Shopping Center in Bensonhurst and two Starbucks outposts on Long Island, the release added.