The Starbucks Union Won 125 Elections in 2025

NLRB data show that the Starbucks unionization drive is holding steady.

When the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) began organizing at Starbucks locations in 2021, it attracted a lot of media attention. After organizing a few stores in Buffalo, the union quickly swept the country, winning over 250 elections in its first year. Prior to the Starbucks campaign, it would have been unimaginable that a union could organize this kind of employer this quickly.

The media attention around the campaign has largely subsided, but SEIU has continued to steadily organize Starbucks stores at essentially the same pace for the last three years. The NLRB election data for 2025 shows that SEIU won 125 union elections at Starbucks and had an election win rate of 82 percent. This puts the total number of Starbucks elections won at 667, which represents approximately 14,500 workers in Starbucks bargaining units. Across all elections — wins and losses — 72 percent of voters favored unionizing.

Despite these victories, Starbucks does not appear to be softening its opposition to the union. The company has yet to sign a single collective bargaining agreement. Instead, it continues to engage in a seemingly endless legal battle against the NLRB and SEIU. In 2025, there were 204 unfair labor practice charges filed against Starbucks and the NLRB issued 13 Administrative Law Judge decisions in cases brought against Starbucks.