KEY POINTS
- Starbucks and the Workers United union will resume bargaining, ending a long stalemate.
- In February, the two sides said they found a “constructive path forward,” marking a major strategic pivot for the coffee giant.
- Labor laws do not require that the employer and union reach a collective bargaining agreement, only that both bargain in good faith.
Starbucks and the union that represents its baristas will resume contract negotiations on Wednesday, ending an extended stalemate.
The two sides’ return to the bargaining table follows their February announcement that they found a “constructive path forward” during mediation discussions related to litigation over the union’s use of Starbucks’ branding. It marked a major pivot for Starbucks, which had spent the previous two years battling Workers United and the broader movement to unionize its cafes.
Roughly 500 company-owned Starbucks in the U.S. have voted to unionize under Workers United since the first elections in December 2021, according to a tally from the National Labor Relations Board, as of Monday. But none of those locations, which make up a small fraction of total U.S. footprint, have come close to a collective bargaining agreement.