Via WI Examiner:

Employees at a third Wisconsin Starbucks location filed a petition for union representation Tuesday, continuing a nationwide union drive that has been unfolding since late last year at the Seattle-based coffee chain.

Between 20 and 30 employees who work at the Madison Starbucks located at 1 E. Main St., across the street from the state Capitol, are expected to vote in an election later this spring on union representation.

“We want to have a voice in our workplace to enact sensible policies,” said Lee Marfyak, a shift supervisor at the store. Employees want better pay as well as better health care benefits, including coverage for mental health, he said.

Evan McKenzie, a barista, has worked for Starbucks for five years, the last two at the Main Street store where he works now.

Talk of unionizing at the store began in the COVID-19 pandemic, McKenzie said.

“Starbucks very publicly gave their workers a $3 pay increase for a while,” he said. “They gave us food and drink benefits and a variety of other things. About halfway through the pandemic they just took all those things away. It seemed very disingenuous to us, especially as a company that sort of flags itself as this progressive, employee-friendly company.”

In February, employees at a Starbucks in Plover, Wis., near Stevens Point, and at one in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek filed petitions for union elections.