They said in a statement that they have made “significant progress” in their talks about a new deal.
The press statement said that the two met to talk about specifics of the issues that caused disagreement between them. The union that works for more than 400 Starbucks shops is called Workers United. The group has been in talks with Starbucks and wants the company to make a lot of changes, including paying more, keeping the same hours, and more.
It is a branch of the Service Employees International Union or SEIU. This has been going on between the group and Starbucks for two years. There seems to be improvement at the negotiating table, but there is still a long way to go.
A store in New York was the first to join the union, and other stores quickly followed suit. The union speaks for more than 8,000 workers in forty states. Both groups couldn’t come to an agreement on how to bargain for almost two years. Finally, they agreed to keep talking, but a deal hasn’t been made yet.
Together, they said, “There’s more to do, but we are committed to working together.”
The last time these two sides got together to talk about bargaining was almost a year ago. They are going to get together again next month to talk more about possible changes. Laws about work don’t require them to agree on anything, but they do have to deal in good faith. If a union member changes their mind during talks, they have a year to do so.