After employees at a second Columbia Starbucks restaurant voted Thursday to unionize, some are beginning to speak out about what concessions they want when they begin bargaining with officials from the coffee giant.
Mike Brown, a shift supervisor at the store, says employees at the Range Line Street location are primarily concerned with negotiating for improved training and adequate staffing.
According to Brown, his store too frequently operates with what he calls ‘skeleton crews’ — or shifts composed of the fewest number of people required for operation.
He says he’s also hoping for better treatment from Starbucks corporate following the 11-to-1 union vote, saying he sometimes feels like he’s thought of as a machine.
The Range Line location’s union vote follows a similarly successful unionization effort from the Starbucks on Nifong Boulevard earlier this year. If agreements are reached, both locations would join a national union comprised of Starbucks stores.
