When Starbucks was founded in Seattle, Washington, half a century ago, its business model was supposedly union-proof. And for about fifty years, it basically was. With the certification of a union in Buffalo, New York, and new union election filings across the country, that’s changing.

After three Buffalo-area Starbucks locations filed for union elections with Workers United in August 2021, several other stores across the country followed their lead, including three additional stores in the Buffalo area and one in Mesa, Arizona. In December 2021, baristas at the Elmwood location in Buffalo won union recognition, making them the first certified Starbucks union in the United States since a Howard Schultz–approved decertification campaign ended America’s lone Starbucks union in 1987. Following the historic win, Starbucks locations in Boston, Massachusetts; Broomfield, Colorado; Knoxville, Tennessee; Chicago, Illinois; Eugene, Oregon; Hopewell, New Jersey; and Cleveland, Ohio, have filed for union elections.

Now, Starbucks workers in Seattle, where the company started fifty-one years ago, have filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Two members of the Seattle bargaining unit, Sydney Durkin and Rachel Ybarra, spoke to Jacobin about the significance of the union for both their store and food service workers in general.