Ann Arbor becomes a Starbucks union town

Four of out five Starbucks in Ann Arbor, MI, voted to unionize. In all, ten stores in the state are voting on whether to join a union or not. Elizabeth Blackwell, a barista at one of the stores, said that Starbucks' decision to shorten store hours, which cut staff hours in the process, was among the factors that led employees to vote "yes" to joining Workers United. “That in itself radicalized a lot of people because they were realizing we are powerless in this relationship with Starbucks, with Howard Schultz,” she said. “We have no control here. They can just cut our hours like that, they can take away our means to live.”