Starbucks Workers Win Ruling to Seek Union in November Vote

  • Official says election to take place from Nov. 10 to Dec. 8
  • U.S. workers are pushing back after years of decline
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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The U.S. labor board rejected Starbucks Corp.’s bid to prevent store-by-store unionization votes at several locations in the Buffalo, New York, area -- dealing a preliminary victory to a labor group trying to establish the first union foothold among the coffee giant’s corporate-run U.S. stores.

In a Thursday ruling, Nancy Wilson, acting National Labor Relations Board regional director, wrote that Starbucks “has failed to sustain its burden” to overcome the agency’s usual presumption that the employees at a single worksite can be an appropriate group to vote on unionization.