(CLARENCE & ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK) – A combined 30 SPoT Coffee Workers who are employed at the Buffalo Coffee Chain’s Clarence and Orchard Park locations have voted to Unionize with Workers United, it has been announced.

And, SPoT Management has signed on to a Non-Interference Agreement with the new Local of Workers United “and is respecting the Workers’ right to organize,” Workers United Organizer Richard Bensinger said in a posting that appeared on the Social Network Facebook.

The posting read: Congratulations to the 30 newest Members of the Labor Movement - SPoT Coffee Workers at the Orchard Park, NY and Clarence, NY locations.  Grant (Okun), on the left, was a main Worker Organizer at Clarence and Kay (Kennedy) is a Workers United Member Organizer who works at the SPoT Cafe on Hertel Avenue.  Celebrating the official certification of the Union is New York State Senator Tim Kennedy, who was the first to call for a boycott when SPoT fired the Workers leading the campaign in June.  Now the employer has signed on to a Non-Interference Agreement with the new Local of Workers United and is respecting the Workers’ right to organize.  Buffalo and Rochester friends, please get coffee and a meal at Spot not Starbucks.

It was two days before the Fourth of July that Workers employed by the SPoT Coffee Chain in Buffalo first went public with their desire to form a Union in their workplace. 

More than a month and half later - on Tuesday (August 20th), those Workers hugged in celebration after their overwhelming vote to Go Union was announced.

By a final tally of 43-to-6, the SPoT (Supporting People Organizing Together) Coffee Workers - representing a total of 90 employed at four local locations, on Hertel, Delaware and Elmwood Avenues and on Main Street in Suburban Williamsville, formed the first Union at a coffee shop in Buffalo in more than 25 years.  A majority of SPoT Coffee Workers signed cards to force the Union Election that was overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The fight to Unionize SPoT Coffee Workers in Buffalo was the exact opposite of what occurred with SPoT Coffee Workers in the City of Rochester, who were allowed by management to Unionize.  A number of public demonstrations and rallies were held outside SPoT Coffee’s area locations and a ton of media coverage spotlighted their struggle.  In Rochester, there was only one No vote cast in the Rochester SPoT Coffee Unionization Drive that has now created 16 new Union Workers employed at SPoT Coffee’s East Avenue location, Union Officials said.

With the reinstatement of two Buffalo area SPoT Coffee Workers who were fired during the Union Organizing Campaign, along with them receiving full back pay, a community-wide boycott of Buffalo’s coffee chain came to an end in November with Organized Labor coming together to publicly announce that “Buffalo’s Got A Union SPoT.”

“The boycott ‘is over’ and SPoT is a ‘Unionized Coffee Shop,” Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation (WNYALF) President Richard Lipsitz told Union Leaders and Delegates during a November meeting of the Buffalo AFL-CIO Central Labor Council. 

“We (Organized Labor across Western New York) ‘would prefer’ that our Members ‘use’ Union-represented hotels, restaurants - ‘and now,’ coffee shops.  We announce the end of the boycott ‘and encourage’ our affiliated Unions and their Members to (patronize SPoT Coffee locations in Buffalo and its suburbs),” Lipsitz said.

For More On This Labor News Story, Read:

WNYLaborToday.com’s November 13th Report, Headlined: With The Reinstatement Of Two Fired Workers & The Lifting Of A Community-Wide Boycott, Organized Labor Announces That ‘Buffalo’s Got A Union SPoT’ At https://www.wnylabortoday.com/news/2019/11/13/buffalo-and-western-new-york-labor-news/with-the-reinstatement-of-two-fired-workers-the-lifting-of-a-community-wide-boycott-organized-labor-announces-that-buffalo-s-got-a-union-spot/

And

WNYLaborToday.com’s August 21st Report, Headlined: SPoT Coffee Workers In Buffalo Overwhelmingly Vote To ‘Go Union’ - Workers United Reps Plan On Contacting Management “Today Or Thursday” To Start Bargaining Process For A First Union Contract At www.wnylabortoday.com/news/2019/08/21/buffalo-and-western-new-york-labor-news/spot-coffee-workers-in-buffalo-overwhelmingly-vote-to-go-union-workers-united-reps-plan-on-contacting-management-today-or-thursday-to-start-bargaining-process-for-a-first-union-contract/