Workers at another Tampa Starbucks store have voted to unionize

Joining a growing movement of organizing baristas across the country, workers at a second Starbucks location in Tampa—at 1300 S Dale Mabry Hwy.—recently voted to join the labor union Starbucks Workers United.

According to the National Labor Relations Board, the vote was 11-2 in favor of unionization, out of 18 total eligible voters. Since December 2021, more than 550 corporate-owned Starbucks cafes in nearly all states across the U.S. have unionized, including workers at nearly a dozen other Starbucks locations in Florida alone. Workers at the 10002 N Dale Mabry Hwy location also in Tampa voted to unionize last May.

“BREAKING: Starbucks workers at the Dale Mabry & Neptune location in Tampa, FL just WON the 550th union Starbucks in the US!” the union shared in a post on the social network formally known as Twitter, referencing its latest victory in the Sunshine State. “Not only that – baristas at 23 MORE stores are announcing organizing efforts today! When we fight together, we WIN together. We’re NOT slowing down.”

Starbucks baristas and shift supervisors first launched an organizing campaign with Starbucks Workers United, affiliated with the labor union Workers United, in 2021, scoring their first victory in Buffalo, New York. The Seattle-based coffee chain initially fought the national unionization effort, running its own anti-union messaging campaign with the help of the notorious anti-union law firm Littler Mendelson.

The company, led by former Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol since just this last September, has racked up hundreds of unfair labor practice charges along the way, alleging violations of labor law that range from unlawful firings of pro-union workers to withholding raises and other benefits specifically from workers that have voted to unionize. Former CEO Howard Schultz repeatedly dismissed the union as a “third party” and vocally opposed unionization efforts.

Facing pressure from company shareholders, Starbucks reached a foundational framework for bargaining an initial contract with the union last year. Contract talks have continued to drag on, however, with economic proposals such as wage increases remaining a major sticking point at the bargaining table. According to the New York Times, the two parties recently brought in a third-party mediator to assist.

“We are optimistic that Starbucks will move off of their fixed position on wage and benefits improvements in this next phase of negotiations,” Michelle Eisen, a longtime Starbucks worker from Buffalo, told the Times in a statement.

Starbucks, for its part, has also publicly adopted an optimistic tone. “We have made progress over the last nine months of bargaining, and we are committed to continuing to work together – with a mediator’s assistance – to navigate complex issues and reach fair contracts,” Starbucks spokesperson Phil Gee told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay in an email.

“We respect our partners right to choose, through a fair and democratic process, to be represented by a union or not to be represented by a union and will continue to work together to make Starbucks the best job in retail,” Gee added, in response to the recent election results in Tampa.

Starbucks posted more than $7 billion in net revenues for the first quarter of the 2025 fiscal year in its North America segment alone, and an operating income of $1.2 billion.

The largely progressive, young workforce of Starbucks employees organizing with the union are fighting for improvements to worker pay, better job benefits, more predictable scheduling, and to address other workplace concerns such as anti-discrimination policies, disciplinary issues and broken cafe equipment.

This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2025.