Starbucks workers in Litchfield Park celebrate filing their union petition on Jan. 27, 2023. (Photo by Jessica Swarner)
Workers at the Litchfield Park store are fighting for more hours and fair wages.
A Starbucks in Litchfield Park could be the sixth store in Arizona to unionize with Starbucks Workers United.
The store at Litchfield and Camelback roads filed a petition to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Jan. 25.
According to More Perfect Union, at least 360 stores across the US have filed to unionize. So far, 283 have won their elections, including five in Arizona.
James Seeberger, a shift supervisor at the Litchfield Park store, said workers are fighting for more hours and fair wages.
“[Starbucks is] really cutting our labor hours, so it’s making it hard for baristas globally to really get our benefit hours and everything,” he told The Copper Courier. “So we knew that our hope would be within unionizing.”
RELATED: Avondale, Mesa Starbucks Go on Strike for Red Cup Day
Seeberger said workers at his store reached out to the unionized Starbucks at 107th Avenue and Indian School Road in Avondale for help getting started.
The other locations in Arizona that are unionized are:
- Crimson and Southern roads in Mesa
- Power and Baseline roads in Mesa
- Seventh Street and Bell Road in Phoenix
- University Boulevard and Euclid Avenue in Tucson
The fight to unionize has been contentious. According to Starbucks Workers United, the NLRB has issued 60 complaints against the company, and Starbucks has fired at least six union leaders in the Southwest region.
Stores that have unionized have accused Starbucks of not negotiating in good faith. Two stores in Arizona went on strike in November as part of the nationwide Red Cup Rebellion, calling on the company to come to the table.
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