WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — The push to unionize is growing at Starbucks locations around the country. Now, that push has come to a Connecticut at a location in Corbin’s Corner in West Hartford.
The organizing committee representative said they have notified their management of their intent to unionize with Workers United and they also say they have officially filed their petition with the National Labor Relations Board.
This makes them the first location in Connecticut to make this move and employees are citing a list of reasons.
They claim a good portion of the staff has had to pick up second or even third jobs just to make ends meet.
The organizing committee also said the store is understaffed at peak times and constantly hiring new employees while present employees struggle to meet the minimum hours a week for benefits.
In addition to all that, employees also said training periods for new hires have grown shorter and shorter as drink components have become more complicated.
"There are a lot of small things that really compounded,” said Kuzco Gong, Organizing Committee Member. “The pandemic exacerbated things to kind of a breaking point and then also, hearing about other partners across the country who've had kind of stood up and unionize, we were kinds of inspired."
This Starbucks union effort is growing big and fast across the country.
At least six Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since December and at least 140 more in 27 states have filed petitions for union elections.
FOX61 has reached out to Starbucks for comment regarding this latest move from that West Hartford location and any response to their claims.
Angelo Bavaro is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at abavaro@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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