Starbucks workers at four more Mass. locations vote to unionize

Since three stores in Buffalo filed petitions to unionize in August, over 240 Starbucks locations across the country have taken steps to form a union.Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

Less than a month after employees at two Boston-area Starbucks cafes voted to formally unionize, workers at four other locations in Greater Boston have followed suit.

Baristas at the four Starbucks stores — in the Continuum building in Allston, Cleveland Circle, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and on Mount Auburn Street in Watertown — have voted to join Workers United, according to a ballot count by the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday.

Two of the locations, at Continuum and Beth Israel, voted unanimously to unionize. Employees at the Cleveland Circle location on Beacon Street voted 8-2 for unionization, and those at the Mount Auburn Street store in Watertown voted 10-1.

Starbucks challenged two ballots at Continuum, four at Cleveland Circle, two at Watertown, and two at Beth Israel.

The election results brought the total number of unionized Starbucks stores in Massachusetts to six. In April, employees in Allston and Brookline voted unanimously to unionize, becoming the first stores in the state to do so. Tuesday’s votes came in the wake of employee claims that the coffee giant has engaged in union-busting at several Boston-area locations — claims that Starbucks has denied.

Baristas at the four stores on Tuesday expressed their excitement at the results in a statement that Greater Boston Starbucks Workers United released after the ballot count.

“We finally get to have a say in our jobs,” said Yaakov Horwath, a Cleveland Circle employee who has worked at the company for 10 years. “We work for a massive company and we deserve fair and equal representation. We’re not stagnant anymore. We can make change happen now.”

The Starbucks unionization campaign has grown rapidly over the past year. Since three stores in Buffalo filed petitions to unionize in August, over 240 Starbucks locations across the country have taken steps to form a union. In Massachusetts, 16 stores have petitioned to unionize since December.

“This is the most meaningful work I’ve done since becoming a Starbucks partner in 2014,” said Willow Montana, a barista at Cleveland Circle. “And I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished.”

The next Massachusetts ballot count is on May 19 and will determine results from the 474 Woodward Street Starbucks in Waban.