SEATTLE, Wash. – Starbucks is hoping to start contract negotiations at its unionized stores next month.
The company said it sent letters to 234 stores, offering a three-week window in October to start negotiations.
All of those stores have voted to unionize this year in elections that were certified by the National Labor Relations Board.
But Workers United, the union organizing Starbucks’ stores, expressed skepticism about the company’s request.
Starbucks has long opposed the unionization of its 9,000 company-owned U.S. stores.
The unionization effort began late last year at a Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York.
That store and two others are the only ones currently negotiating contracts.