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Vote to unionize Starbucks’ Plaza location tentatively ends in tie

Starbucks
Posted at 1:11 PM, Jun 09, 2022
and last updated 2022-06-09 14:11:55-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Workers at one of the first Starbucks stores in the Kansas City area to announce plans to unionize will have to wait a little longer to know if their efforts will be successful.

In January, workers at the Starbucks store on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri, announced an effort to unionize. Those employees were joined by workers at the Overland Park store near W. 75th Street and Interstate 35 in the unionization effort.

On Thursday, coordinators with the National Labor Relations Board counted the ballots of a recent election among 31 eligible workers at the Plaza location.

A total of 21 ballots were received, with nine workers voting for unionization, nine workers voting against unionization and another three ballots up for challenge.

Because the three challenged ballots could flip the outcome of the unionization vote, a NLRB spokesperson said the NLRB’s regional director based in St Louis will decide which, if any, of the challenged ballots should be opened and counted. The timeline for review wasn’t immediately available.

Last month, Starbucks workers at the store located at 18710 E. 39th St. in Independence voted 17-3 to unionize, becoming the first Starbucks in Missouri to unionize.