Starbucks, US union agree to form ‘framework’ for organizing, bargaining

FILE PHOTO: A woman displays a red Starbucks cup at a Starbucks cafe in Beirut, Lebanon November 20, 2016. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi/File Photo

Starbucks and a union seeking to organize the coffee chain’s U.S. workforce said on Tuesday they have agreed to create a “framework” to guide organizing and collective bargaining and potentially settle scores of pending legal disputes.

In a joint announcement, Starbucks and Workers United said that during talks last week to settle an ongoing court case, “a constructive path forward emerged” on the future of the nationwide labor campaign that began in 2021 and has led workers to unionize at nearly 400 of the company’s 9,000 U.S. stores.

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According to the announcement, Starbucks and the union agreed to begin discussions on a “foundational framework” that includes a fair process for workers to organize and a process to achieve collective bargaining agreements on a store-by-store basis.

Starbucks said that “as a sign of good faith,” it has agreed to provide workers at unionized stores with benefits that were granted to non-union workers in 2022, including the ability to receive customer tips from credit card transactions.