Last Monday, workers in Greenville, South Carolina, voted eight to one to become the
first unionized store in the state.
Greenville has a deserved reputation as being
“among the most relentlessly anti-union
cities in the nation,” as The New York Times described it.
Starbucks Workers United’s victory there is
one of the most remarkable union
wins in recent years.
More than 260 stores petitioned
for NLRB elections.
The union has won more than 70
elections, most by overwhelming margins,
and lost only nine. They’ve won elections throughout the country,
including in places where these victories are rare,
Mesa, Arizona; Boone, North Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; Knoxville, Tennessee;
Augusta, Georgia; and Overland Park, Kansas.