Calgary Starbucks location becomes 1st to unionize in Alberta

Tue, July 12, 2022

A file photo of a Starbucks store. Workers at a Calgary Starbucks location in the southwest community of Millrise have voted to unionize. (Eric Risberg/The Associated Press - image credit)

A Starbucks store in southwest Calgary has voted to unionize, becoming the first in Alberta to do so.

A majority of the 32 workers at the Starbucks located at 150 Millrise Boulevard S.W. participated in a mail-in ballot and will join the United Steelworkers (USW) union.

"We are proud to welcome workers from the first unionized Starbucks store in Alberta to our growing union family," said Scott Lunny, USW director for Western Canada, in a release.

Starbucks is facing a wave of union drives. As of late June, half a dozen stores in Alberta were part of that effort.

A Starbucks Canada spokesperson told CBC News that the company respects its employees right to organize.

"From the beginning, we've been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us at Starbucks, and that conviction has not changed," the statement said.

"We will respect the process and will bargain in good faith guided by our principles. We hope that the union does the same."

The USW already represents Starbucks workers in Victoria, Surrey and Langley in British Columbia.