Workers at Starbucks-Amazon Hybrid Store Seek Union, Say They’re Doing Two Jobs for Price of One

Workers at a Starbucks-Amazon Go convenience store near Times Square filed a petition for a union election Friday—and one worker told THE CITY that supporters are already feeling the heat from management, receiving threats of write-ups and citations for coming to work in pro-union T-shirts.

The Eighth Avenue location, which is staffed entirely by Starbucks workers, is a cafe that features a cashier-less Amazon Go convenience store, a concept that the retail behemoth debuted in 2018 promising a “Just Walk Out” shopping experience free of checkout lines. But baristas say the arrangement makes it so that they’re essentially working two different jobs for the price of one—running inventory and stocking shelves for the Amazon Go store, while prepping drink orders and running the cash register at the Starbucks counter.

“We’re overworked and underpaid,” said one worker, asked to be identified only as U.U. due to fear of retaliation. “We’re doing multiple different jobs for the same amount of wages as any other Starbucks worker. And that’s nonsense.” The workers filed their petition with Starbucks Workers United, which has successfully organized nearly 6,500 workers in 243 locations across the nation since December 2021, including seven others in NYC. Read more in THE CITY!