Workers at a Starbucks in Bucktown became the coffee chain’s fifth store in the Chicago area Tuesday to vote in favor of union membership.
Baristas employed at 2101 W. Armitage Ave. voted for the union 15-1. They will become a separate bargaining unit of Workers United, part of the Service Employees International Union.
The National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that oversees union organizing, counted the mailed ballots in a Zoom session that included representatives of management and Workers United. An NLRB representative said 27 employees at the site were eligible to vote.
The union is in the midst of a nationwide organizing campaign targeting Starbucks. Of the Chicago-area locations that have had elections so far, five have supported the union and three have rejected it.
The NLRB said last week the union has tallied victories at 133 stores around the U.S. and been defeated at 20 sites.
