On Friday and Saturday, Starbucks workers at a store in New Orleans voted to form a union. This store was the first one to unionize in the state of Louisiana. The successful vote took place at a company warehouse, near the Carrollton neighborhood coffee shop. More than 100 Starbucks stores have unionized, after a store in Buffalo, New York became the first one to vote for a union, in December 2021.

Billie Nyx, who was fired in mid-May, for closing the store early, without getting permission from the upper management read the results of the vote. The Maple Street store result was almost unanimous, 11 voted for unionization, one against it and two votes were challenged. She read out the only “no” vote. She described the atmosphere as “chill” and said that everything had gone to plan and that there were no complications.

Barista Caitlyn Pierce said that the workers wanted to unionize as they got regular shifts. The baristas were both overworked and understaffed and so they decided to unionize. She was happy with the result of the vote.

Starbucks has put in immense effort to thwart unions in its stores, after the first successful vote to unionize. However, this Sunday the Seattle-based company released a statement that noted that it was “listening” as well as “learning.” It also said that it respected their “partner’s right to organize.”

Starbucks did not mention whether it would challenge the vote. The vote in Louisiana follows that of a vote in Birmingham, Alabama which also saw an almost unanimous vote, 27-1, to join the Workers United union.

The National Labor Relations Board has 177 open cases of unfair labor practices by Starbucks. They include unjust firings as well as retaliation against employees such as Nyx for encouraging pro-union actions.

Starbucks has over 34,000 stores all over the world.