Starbucks baristas at Barcroft Plaza vote to join union

Baristas at Starbucks’ Barcroft Plaza store in Lincolnia voted 9-6 to join Starbucks Workers United, making it the 26th Starbucks in Virginia to organize. The election covered 15 eligible workers, including baristas and shift supervisors, at the store at 6365 Columbia Pike.

Starbucks Workers United now represents more than 12,000 workers at more than 700 locations nationwide and has won elections at nearly 700 stores. The organizing drive began with the first successful Starbucks union vote in Buffalo in December 2021, when a small upstate New York store helped turn a scattered workplace effort into a national campaign.

At Barcroft Plaza, the organizing message centered on shift-level problems that restaurant and café workers know well: unpredictable scheduling, too few hours, uneven staffing, and day-to-day management practices that can make a small crew feel even smaller. The union is still pressing for higher pay, better staffing and hours, and an end to union busting, while also trying to win a first contract at unionized Starbucks stores.

After a vote, the result moves through the National Labor Relations Board process before bargaining can begin in earnest if the company does not challenge the election. Starbucks and the union last held formal negotiations in December 2024, and Starbucks later proposed resuming in-person bargaining on March 30 and staying available through April. The union’s open-ended unfair labor practice strike, launched on November 13, 2025, began with about 1,000 workers at 65 stores in more than 40 cities and later spread to more than 95 stores in 65 cities.