Guest columnists
Jeffrey Stankunas is chair of the Labor and Employment Law practice at Columbus law firm Isaac Wiles. Emily Dilloway is a summer law clerk at Isaac Wiles and a third-year law student at Capital University Law School.
The nationwide push to unionize Starbucks stores finally found its way to Columbus late last month, with the downtown café at 88 E. Broad St. voting 8-4 in favor of a union. Now, a second store in Westerville is set to vote June 29 on whether to unionize.
Although the roughly 83 stores now unionized are just a blip on Starbucks’ national map of nearly 9,000 locations, the trend does not bode well for the giant coffee chain and the food service industry.
Data from the National Labor Relations Board reveals that almost 28% of new election petitions are from food services and accommodation workers, most certainly stemming from the COVID pandemic. Starbucks is taking the brunt of it, with workers at more than 250 stores petitioning thus far to hold elections across the nation under Workers United New York, a branch of the Service Employees International Union.
The jury is out on whether unions are good or bad for companies and the economy.
On the negative side, unionization can create a period of uncertainty for a company and its shareholders, though it is currently too early in the process to determine how this will play out for Starbucks. Some economists theorize that unionization results in smaller profit margins and higher costs to consumers....
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