Catherwood LibraryILR School

Union organizing at Starbucks locations have been far more successful than unionization attempts at Amazon, primarily because the sheer size of Amazon's warehouses, in addition to a high turnover rate, makes it difficult for union leaders to reach employees and coordinate a drive. Only one Amazon warehouse has managed to become unionized, compared to 143 Starbucks locations since December, with another 120 aiming for future union elections. The small size of each Starbucks location makes it easier to coordinate friendly pro-union communications. Meanwhile, a 150% turnover rate at Amazon can make it difficult to achieve the 30% approval rate needed for workers to request a union election. The initial Starbucks union election success in Buffalo, NY, inspired hundreds of other locations to follow suit, making it difficult for the company's anti-union tactics to address all locations at once, while Amazon has had only three union election attempts, allowing the behemoth retailer to commit substantial resources to defeating them.