Coffee chain Starbucks (SBUX) has restarted talks with the union that is organizing workers at its U.S. stores and says it is willing to negotiate labour agreements.
The new approach is a reversal for Starbucks, which has fought unionization drives since the Workers United union first organized baristas at a Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, in 2021.
Workers have voted to unionize at more than 370 Starbucks stores in the U.S., but none of those stores has reached a labour agreement with the company.
The number of stores seeking to unionize is relatively small given that Starbucks operates 38,000 locations worldwide.
Still, the labour process, until now, has been fractious. Federal courts have had to order Starbucks to reinstate workers who were fired after leading unionization efforts.
The National Labor Relations Board in the U.S. has issued at least 120 complaints against Starbucks for unfair labour practices in recent years.
Starbucks said last December that it wanted to restart labour talks with the goal of ratifying contracts this year. Before December, Starbucks and Workers United hadn't spoken for nearly a year.
The stock of Starbucks has declined 8% in the past 12 months and currently trades at $94.13 U.S. per share.
