Eastern Iowa Starbucks Baristas Win Union Election

Another QC Starbucks location has joined a national union.

According to a press release, a second Quad Cities Starbucks location has won a union election, as baristas join Starbucks Workers United.

The newest location to be part of the union is the Kimberly & Middle Road Starbucks.

Barista Amara Whitfield (who has been working as a barista for 1 and a half years) said about joining the over 11,000-strong union:

It really feels incredible for our store to join this movement officially. Unions are one of the most powerful tools that working class people have access to and it feels good for me to upgrade from ‘member of a union household’ to ‘member of a workers union.’ I’m really excited to move forward and put our collective voice to good use.

The Kimberly & Middle Road location is the second local Starbucks to join the union. It is the third location to do so in Iowa. The Davenport location on East 53rd joined, as did a location in Iowa City.

Both the Davenport and Iowa City locations that were already in the union participated in the national Starbucks strike on Christmas Eve, which stemmed from contract disputes.

Starbucks workers in the nationwide union are demanding better schedules, higher pay, and more staff.