KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Workers at an Independence Starbucks voted overwhelmingly to unionize, becoming the first Starbucks store in Missouri to do so.
The store’s workers, located at 18710 E. 39th St., voted 17-3 to join Workers United International. The vote was held as part of a count in front of the National Labor Relations Board.
Earlier this year, two other stores in the Kansas City area, one at 75th Street and Interstate 35 in Overland Park, and another at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri, signaled their intentions to unionize.
The Overland Park store voted 6-1 to unionize in a vote on April 8, though those results were objected to by Starbucks attorneys.
Two other Starbucks stores across the country, one in Columbus, Ohio and another in Cleveland, Ohio, also voted Tuesday to unionize.
“We are thrilled with the results of today’s vote count. Today our voices have been heard by the NLRB. Tomorrow our voices will be heard by Starbucks in collective bargaining,” workers at the Independence store collectively said in a news release. “We hope this win sparks a union rally across KC and Missouri and continues the push across the nation.”
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