Workers at two more Starbucks in Fairfax County could unionize, as a labor strike continues in response to stalled contract negotiations.
Petitions for union elections were filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last Tuesday (Dec. 23) by 14 employees at the Plaza America cafe in Reston (11610-A Plaza America Drive) and 17 at the location at 1438 Chain Bridge Road in McLean.
In both cases, the union would include all full-time and regular part-time baristas as well as shift supervisors. Dates for the elections haven’t been scheduled yet, as of press time.
The Plaza America and Chain Bridge Road stores are among 19 Starbucks locations in 18 cities across the U.S. that filed for union elections on Dec. 23, according to Starbucks Workers United, which has been striking since Nov. 13 to protest alleged labor violations and pressure the coffee chain to finalize a collective bargaining agreement with better pay and working conditions.
“I’m inspired by the power that union baristas are building across the nation. My coworkers and I are excited to add our voices to the growing movement,” said Dream Cooper, a barista at a Syracuse, New York, store that also filed a union petition last week.
According to the union, it now represents more than 11,000 Starbucks workers at over 560 stores in 45 states and D.C., including 13 stores with over 250 baristas who have unionized in the month-and-a-half since the strike started.
If the 19 stores that petitioned for elections last week are all successful, that would add more than 330 workers to the union’s ranks.
The Starbucks at Gatehouse Plaza in Merrifield (3046 Gatehouse Plaza) became Fairfax County’s first to unionize in April 2022. Cafes at Old Keene Mill Shopping Center (8408A Old Keene Mill Road) in Springfield and Lee Plaza (11725 Route 29) in Fairfax followed suit in 2024 and this past April, respectively.
Workers at the unionized Merrifield and Springfield locations both joined the picket line earlier this month, though Starbucks Workers United has been urging customers to not patronize any store, not just those officially on strike.
While the strike is still ongoing, Workers United informed the company last Tuesday that employees at 166 of the 215 striking locations would be returning to work, the Seattle Times reported.
Describing the return-to-work notice as a “shift change,” Workers United told FFXnow that, as of Friday (Dec. 26), more than 1,000 baristas in 10 cities are still on strike, and more are prepared to join them in January if contract negotiations remain at a standstill.
“Some baristas who were previously on strike have returned to work to organize their stores, secure their livelihoods, and continue improving their workplace,” Christi Gomoljak, a striking barista in Anaheim, California, said in a statement. “Striking isn’t easy. It’s a huge risk to take on, and I’m proud that so many allies and customers have our backs. We all care about our coworkers, our customers, and Starbucks’ future. It’s why we organize, and it’s why we’re demanding better pay, reliable hours, and for Starbucks to follow the law.”
In addition to calling for higher wages and longer, more consistent hours to address staffing issues, the union has been seeking resolutions to more than 100 charges of unfair labor practices filed against Starbucks with the NLRB since the beginning of 2025.
Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson says the company views the union’s call for many of its striking coffeeshops to return to work “as a positive step and hope it signals a willingness to return to the bargaining table.”
“With more than 30 tentative agreements already in place, we’re confident we can move to a reasonable contract — one that reflects that Starbucks offers the best job in retail, with pay and benefits averaging over $30 an hour for hourly partners,” Anderson said in a statement. “Throughout the strike, more than 99% of our 17,000 U.S. coffeehouses stayed open and continued welcoming customers. Fewer than 1% were ever affected, and more than half of the locations on the strike list never closed or reopened quickly.”
This story has been updated with a comment from Starbucks.
