Canada Deal Is 1st Union Pact for Starbucks

The Canadian Auto Workers union declared victory by securing the first union contract ever at trendy coffee retailer Starbucks Corp. after a tentative deal was struck for 110 workers in Vancouver. Employees at eight Starbucks coffee bars and a distribution center in Vancouver are the first in the 1,110-store chain to be represented by a union. Buoyed by the Vancouver deal, the union hopes workers at other Starbucks locations in Canada will join its fold. A tentative deal for a two-year contract was struck Thursday after months of negotiations and three days of mediation. Details of the agreement were not released pending final approval by union members and Seattle-based Starbucks, but ratification appears certain. Starbucks executives were unavailable for comment, but in a statement Starbucks noted that the contract covered only 8% of its employees in British Columbia, where it has 94 stores. The company employs 20,000 workers--which it calls “partners”--throughout the U.S. and Canada. Its shares rose 63 cents to close at $35.25 on Nasdaq.