Five Starbucks shops in Ontario ratify first collective agreements

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TORONTO — 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.

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.

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.