Starbucks suffers 'huge embarrassment' as union pulls off yet another massive victory: reporter

The unionization drive at the Starbucks coffee chain is still going strong, and veteran labor reporter Steven Greenhouse brings word that Starbucks suffered yet another "huge embarrassment" on Tuesday.

According to Greenhouse, the union won five out of five victories in the city of Richmond, Virginia, marking the latest blow to Starbucks' efforts to stop its workers from joining unions.

What's more, the votes in Richmond weren't even close -- according to Greenhouse's tallies, the races were won by totals of 17-1, 22-3, 11-2, 13-8, and 19-0.

So far, 25 different Starbucks franchises have unionized, and hundreds more franchises are seeking union elections in the coming months.

The victory of the union over Starbucks also comes just weeks after an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island voted to unionize, marking the first time an Amazon warehouse in the United States had a successful union drive.

Speaking to Democracy Now's Amy Goodman last week, Buffalo, New York-based barista Jaz Brisack criticized recently returned Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.

"I think it’s ridiculous that Howard Schultz is, first, this threatened by unions, because we’ve said, from day one, you know, we’re not doing this because we’re opposed to Starbucks; we’re doing this because we want to make Starbucks the best that it can be and the most sustainable that it can be," Brisack said. "It says it’s a progressive company that celebrates all of these other forms of activism — LGBT rights, environment justice, Black Lives Matter — and then suddenly it’s being assaulted by labor rights. So, that doesn’t make sense.

"That’s not consistent with what Starbucks says it is," Brisack added. "But I think, you know, we’ve seen Howard come to Buffalo and make really inappropriate comparisons to the Holocaust, and now we’re seeing him say that he’s being assaulted. So, I think he tries to acknowledge that it’s a sensitive subject, but he’s still really missing the mark on how to talk about it."