Employees at Santa Fe Starbucks store to pursue unionizing

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Workers at a Santa Fe Starbucks are taking steps to unionize.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports employees at the location on St. Michael’s Drive notified CEO Howard Schultz earlier this week that they filed a petition to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board.

In a letter to Schultz, workers say they “have been without proper support and management” and are often asked to do the work of two or more people in back-to-back shifts.

This is the first Starbucks in Santa Fe to initiate unionizing efforts. Only one other store in New Mexico has done it. An Albuquerque branch formally filed a petition in July.

More than 220 U.S. Starbucks stores that have voted to unionize since late last year. The coffee giant opposes the unionization effort.

A federal judge on Thursday ordered Starbucks to reinstate seven employees in Memphis who were fired earlier this year after leading an effort to unionize their store.

Starbucks, which claimed the staffers were fired for violating safety rules, said it will appeal.