Five Ontario Starbucks shops ratify union contract

The United Steelworkers union says workers at five Starbucks locations in Ontario have ratified their first collective agreements.

The union says the union-led contracts are a significant milestone in the push for collective bargaining at the coffee giant.

Locations include shops in Ajax, Kitchener-Waterloo and Toronto.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

2:24 ‘Huge victory’: Southwest Calgary Starbucks employees agree to first unionized contract

Union drives at Starbucks in Canada have had a bumpy road, including the company closing its only unionized shop in Vancouver in 2023.

The United Steelworkers Local 2009 made a complaint on that move, as well as for company threats against an employee for her unionization activity at a shop in Langley, B.C.

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In February, the B.C. Labour Relations Board found the company had legitimate reasons to shut down the Vancouver location but found Starbucks wrongfully made “threats of adverse consequences” against the union-supporting employee.

In the U.S., a unionization push by Starbucks Workers United has grown from its first successful drive in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2021 to now representing some 570 stores and 11,000 workers.