Starbucks is closing the store in Seattle where employees were the first to vote to form a union in the chain’s home city.
It’s not the first time Starbucks has pointed to safety concerns to explain a closure.
“We are beginning to close stores,” because of safety issues, interim CEO Howard Schultz said in a video posted to Twitter in July.
Starbucks is closing the first Seattle location to vote to unionize.
Efforts to unionize Starbucks locations have been gaining steam since December 2021, when a store in Buffalo became the first to unionize.
Starbucks had nearly 10,000 company-operated stores in North America as of October 2021, according to its most recent annual report.
Last week, Starbucks workers across the country went on a one-day strike to protest what they see as retaliation for unionizing efforts. »