Starbucks at 4th & Vine is first Cincinnati store to unionize

Workers at the Cincinnati Starbucks at Fourth and Vine voted 9-1 Thursday afternoon to join a union. It’s the first Starbucks in the area to unionize.

Lou Shamblin works at the store and helped organize the union vote.

“I think the reason that we all pursued this instead of finding a different job is because we all truly care about each other and we care about our work and what happens there,” Shamblin said.

Shamblin says staff were concerned about safety measures, proper training, and general lack of support from management.

A majority of staff petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for a union vote back in April.

“We got it pretty quickly compared to some of the other stores — just in a couple of weeks,” Shamblin said. “We all love Starbucks, and we all love working for the company, but sometimes we just didn't see the support in management that we would have hoped.”