WARWICK — A June vote to unionize the Starbucks Corp. outlet at 25 Pace Blvd. ended in a 9-9 tie, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled.
Labor organizers needed a majority vote for the union to win recognition, according to the NLRB.
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Organizing employees had a narrow 9-8 lead following the initial vote in mid-June, but two unopened contested votes left the results uncertain.
In a review, the NLRB’s regional director voided one ballot, according to the NLRB’s case update, while the second contested ballot, which went against the union, was deemed eligible.
While many Starbucks stores nationwide have taken unionization votes in recent months, the Starbucks off Route 2 in Warwick remains the only one in Rhode Island to file for unionization.
In a series of tweets, organizer and Starbucks employee Cass Burke said that while the unionization effort ended in a difficult loss, other Starbucks employees should not feel deterred from organizing.
“I devoted myself solely to this for months, and to see it so narrowly escape from us was truthfully heartbreaking,” Burke wrote.
But, Burke added, “to those who were looking to us to see if you want to organize in your store, our loss does not detract from the colossal impact of the over … 200 unionized stores.”
Burke could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday.
In a statement, a Starbucks spokesperson said that the chain “[welcomes] the opportunity to continue working side-by-side with partners at Store #07430 in Warwick, Rhode Island.
“Our core focus throughout this process has been to ensure every partner engaged in a union representation election can trust the process is fair, their voice and vote are considered, and that the final outcome is true and accurate,” the spokesperson said.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Voghel@PBN.com.
