Workers at Starbucks’ Farmingville location in Suffolk County voted 13-1 to join Starbucks Workers United, a division of the Workers United New York/New Jersey Regional Joint Board, the union announced on July 26.
The store filed a petition to unionize in April, joining several others on Long Island and hundreds nationwide. It is the third Long Island Starbucks to unionize, following the Massapequa Village Square location in May and the Westbury Plaza location in June, and one of more than 200 to unionize in the United States.
“We are super excited that all of our hard work has finally come into fruition,” said Sam Cornetta, an employee at the Farmingville Starbucks. “We hope more stores will join the fight and collective bargaining will begin soon.”
In a letter that the store’s organizing committee sent to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, workers said their jobs became more difficult after the Covid-19 pandemic began, and that the company has not given them proper support.
“Baristas are not robots. We are not coffee-making machines,” the letter says. “Ask any barista, and they can recount the first time they cried on the floor or in the back because of this job.”
The letter states that the push to unionize is “not a personal issue or affront, but rather the result of corporate and systemic issues that this country has allowed to develop for far too long.”
According to Starbucks Workers United, the Farmingville location “has suffered greatly” since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and “many of the partners contracted Covid while at work.” Store workers report being understaffed for the influx of customers coming in after visiting the CityMD urgent care and Covid-19 testing site next door.
The Farmingville Starbucks is located just off the Long Island Expressway heading north at 2280 N. Ocean Ave.
