Starbucks union pushes back against plans to close 5 Seattle stores

March 10, 2026 / 1:27 pm

The union that represents thousands of Starbucks workers is pushing back against the corporation's plan to close five Seattle outlets, four of which are unionized.

Starbucks Workers United filed an unfair labor practice charge on Tuesday, March 3, with the National Labor Relations Board. The union reportedly wants to hold bargaining sessions with company representatives.

Starbucks announced plans this week to close five locations in early April. The affected coffeehouses are at:

University District
First Hill
Seattle Center Armory
Downtown's Metropolitan Park East building
Seattle Children's hospital

Each of those locations, except for the Met Park East outlet, is unionized.

A spokesperson for Starbucks said the locations were selected based on financial performance and customer service. They said their union status was not considered.

Last year, Starbucks closed more than 30 outlets in Washington state and hundreds of others across the U.S.

Earlier this month, Starbucks announced that dozens of Seattle-based jobs would be relocating to its new corporate office in Nashville. Despite all the cutbacks, Starbucks plans to keep its headquarters in Seattle. This comes after the company cut 1,100 corporate jobs in 2025. More than 600 corporate employees were laid of in Washington state as part of those cuts.

For more than a year, the company has aimed to turn around lagging sales through its "Back to Starbucks" initiative — an effort to return to its roots as a neighborhood "third place" where customers feel comfortable to hang out.

As part of this plan, it cut back many menu items (though it still opted to roll out new products, such as protein drinks). During this time, it has offered ceramic mugs, free refills, and reversed its bathroom policy.