Baristas and shift supervisors at two North Carolina Starbucks voted to unionize this month, joining a nationwide labor campaign at the largest U.S. coffee chain.
On Dec. 18, Starbucks employees at a store off U.S. 64 in Apex overwhelmingly agreed to have the Workers United union negotiatetheir wages and benefits. In a separate election the same day, Starbucks workers in the town of Wilkesboro also approved the union.
“Personally, I am pretty overwhelmed by the understaffing issue we face,” said Ian Gordon, a barista at the Apex store. “Our hope is to get more people on the floor at a time.”…