A Starbucks location in Little Rock has voted to unionize, making it the second Starbucks in Arkansas to do so.
The Starbucks at Rodney Parham Road and Market Street voted 12 to 2 in favor of representation with Starbucks Workers United, according to a news release Wednesday.
In November, a Starbucks location in Fayetteville, at Wedington Drive and North Salem Road, was the first of the company's Arkansas locations to unionize.
"Winning our election was the most empowered I've ever felt in a workplace," Lyra Jackson, an employee at the location for more than a year, said in the release. "I am so excited to see this movement continue to grow, and I'm hopeful that the upcoming negotiations with Starbucks will be the beginning of meaningful change."
The demands of Starbucks employees represented by Starbucks Workers United include fair pay and hours and safe working conditions, according to the union. The union says it represents 410 stores and 10,000 workers.
There are 52 Starbucks coffee shops in Arkansas according to the company. Starbucks has more than 10,600 company operated stores and nearly 7,200 licensed stores in the United States, and a total of 38,038 stores worldwide, according to the company's 2023 annual report.
Starbucks had opposed unionization efforts in the past but recently changed its position.
In late February, Starbucks released a statement that said in part, "Starbucks and Workers United have agreed to begin discussions on a foundational framework designed to achieve both collective bargaining agreements for represented stores and partners, and the resolution of litigation between the union and the company."
In response to an emailed request for comment Wednesday regarding the Little Rock vote to unionize, a Starbucks spokesman said, "We respect the rights of our partners to organize and bargain collectively, and we are eager to reach ratified agreements in 2024 for represented stores. We are committed to delivering on our promise to offer a bridge to a better future to all Starbucks partners."
The U.S. union membership rate dropped by one-tenth of a percentage point to a new low of 10% in 2023, the Labor Department reported in January, while the total number of union members in the United States grew by 139,000. Gains in the private sector were offset by losses in government jobs.
The drop in the union membership rate happened because the labor market added 2.7 million jobs in 2023, with nonunion jobs growing at a faster pace than union jobs, The Washington Post reported.
Arkansas is a "right to work" state that prohibits employers and employee-chosen unions from agreeing to contracts that require union membership as a condition of employment.
Starbucks shares rose $1.14, or 1.3%, to close Wednesday at $91.50.