Starbucks employees in Atlanta look to unionize

Coffee giant Starbucks is facing another union push. This time, it's in Atlanta.

The Starbucks on Howell Mill Road is the latest in a growing number of stores seeking to unionize. However, it's the first to do so in Georgia, according to Starbucks Workers United. 

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"The partners of Atlanta are taking a stand, becoming the first Starbucks store to file for a union election in Georgia!," Starbucks Workers United tweeted. "We are resilient and ready for change. It’s time to make Starbucks the best company it can be." 

In a letter to Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, Starbucks Workers United claimed that while the company increased its earnings during the pandemic, employees, otherwise known as partners, "have not shared in this prosperity." 

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The group further claimed that it endures "unprecedented instability in the workplace" and "witnessed unfair retaliation." 

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
SBUX	STARBUCKS CORP.	101.51	-0.95	-0.93%

The employees have also felt like they were being "silenced or ignored." 

Starbucks previously said that its stores function better when they work directly with employees, not through a third party. 

On Friday, Starbucks told FOX Business that its position hasn't changed.

"Starbucks success—past, present, and future—is built on how we partner together, always with Our Mission and Values at our core," Starbucks said in a statement. 

The company also said it's "listening and learning from the partners" at the Atlanta location, just like it has at stores across the country.

Last month, a Starbucks store in downtown Buffalo, New York, became the first location to unionize in Starbucks’ 50-year history. 

After the vote, the company said it respected the legal process and promised to come to the negotiating table with union employees at its Elmwood Village location in Buffalo "in good faith," but the victory set off a wave of interest in unionization at other Starbucks locations.

Individual stores in Massachusetts, Arizona, Oregon, Illinois, Colorado, Tennessee and Starbucks’ home city of Seattle have petitioned the labor board for union elections. 

Additional stores in Buffalo have also attempted to unionize. One of them, in the suburb of Cheektowaga, voted 15-9 in favor of representation by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, earlier this month. 

STARBUCKS TO NEGOTIATE 'IN GOOD FAITH' WITH BUFFALO UNION WORKERS

"The vote outcomes will not change our shared purpose or how we will show up for each other. … we will keep listening, we will keep connecting and we will keep being in service of one another because that’s what we’ve always done and what it means to be partner," Starbucks North America President Rossann Williams said in a note with its partners last month. 

Starbucks owns more than 8,000 stores in the U.S.

The Associated Press and FOX Business' Lucas Manfredi contributed to this report.