Employees at the Starbucks on Merle Hay Road in Des Moines have voted to form a union, making the store the first in the metro and the fourth in Iowa to unionize, according to a union release.

The 10-5 vote on Thursday, Aug. 7, means baristas at the store will join Starbucks Workers United, a union representing workers at the nation’s largest coffee shop chain.

“I’m excited to be a union store! This is the first step to creating a better workplace for all,” Jazzy Allen-Lewis, a shift supervisor at the Merle Hay store, said in a statement. “I hope that our shop will create a tidal wave for Des Moines and encourage more shops to choose to be union. It’s worth the fight!”

A Starbucks store in Iowa City in May 2023 became the first in the state to unionize , followed by one in Davenpo

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