Starbucks workers in West Hempstead narrowly vote to unionize

Starbucks workers in West Hempstead voted 11-10 Thursday night to unionize, the latest in the chain's Long Island locations to join a national union push at the Seattle-based coffee giant.

Workers at the store, located at 580 Hempstead Tpke., voted after petitioning the National Labor Relations Board more than two weeks ago to hold an election. Workers there — "partners," in Starbucks lingo — are now part of Workers United New York New Jersey Regional Board, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.

The store is the ninth location on Long Island to unionize since 2022.

To date, employees at stores in Farmingville, Westbury, Lynbrook, Massapequa, Wantagh, Old Westbury, Garden City and Port Jefferson have joined Workers United. 

"At Starbucks we believe that our direct relationship as partners is core to the experiences we create in our stores, and we respect our partners' rights to have a choice on the topic of unions," Jay Go Guasch, a Starbucks spokesperson, said in a statement.

Thursday night's election came a week after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Starbucks in a case concerning what standards the NLRB must meet to seek court orders against employers suspected of interfering with union drives. 

The ruling stemmed from a court case involving a labor dispute with Starbucks and its unionized workforce. The company had argued the NLRB, the government agency that oversees union elections and enforces labor law, should have to meet a higher, consistent standard when seeking a court order to protect the jobs of workers during a union campaign.