A second Missoula Starbucks elected to unionize Wednesday, joining hundreds of the coffee giant’s locations that have organized across the country.
Jaret Kaldec has worked at the Grant Creek Starbucks location in Missoula for four years, and is part of the organizing committee. He said the vibe at the store is sky high after the vote on Wednesday.
“I think, overall, a lot of people are really excited. We’re excited to get to next steps, we’re excited that we have come together as a coalition and finally unionized,” Kaldec said.
The store is the second in Montana to unionize. Another Missoula location organized in May. They now join a growing national movement.
Starbucks Workers United says more than three hundred locations nationwide have unionized since 2021. In that time, the corporation has been hit with more than 600 complaints of illegal union busting tactics. The National Labor Relations Board found Starbucks acted illegally in many of those cases.
Grant Creek Starbucks workers have also lodged a complaint over unfair practices.
Kaldec also said the store quietly closed down the day of the vote:
“Which is very much so union busting, because we could have very easily kept the store open. And it was also only communicated to partners through word of mouth, and not an actual posting,” Kaldec said.
While they wait to see if Starbucks will come to the negotiating table, Kaldec says he and other organizers hope to make inroads at locations across the state.