This isn’t the first time USW has tried to unionize Starbucks workers in Edmonton.
In the summer of 2022, they applied on behalf of 41 workers at the Starbucks location near Sherwood Drive and Emerald Drive in Sherwood Park, as well as the location on Baseline Road in the same city, just 3 kilometres away.
That December, they tried to unionize workers at the Starbucks location at 75 Street and 68 Avenue in Edmonton. And the following month, they applied on behalf of 32 workers at the Starbucks location near Capilano Mall in Edmonton.
As well, last April, workers at the Starbucks location in Edmonton’s Terrace Heights voted to join USW. Actually, USW submitted a second application to the ALRB requesting that the certificate that the board issued for Terrace Heights workers be amended to include these Kingsway workers.
They also unionized a Calgary location and attempted to unionize all the locations in Lethbridge.
The ALRB has scheduled a hearing for tomorrow regarding this application. During the hearing, Starbucks represenatives will have a chance to argue, as I’m sure they’ll take advantage of, why these workers shouldn’t be able to unionize with USW.
If the application is approved, the these workers will choose whether to join the USW in a vote supervised by the ALRB.
Assuming the workers vote in favour of unionizing, the next step following the vote will be to organize a bargaining committee to begin negotiation their first collective agreement with Starbucks.
Because the ALRB doesn’t archive their new applications reports, I have included a copy of this report below for your convenience.
