STARBUCKS has been ordered to swiftly begin negotiating with a union formed at one of its locations in Seattle, the National Labour Relations Board said on Thursday. 

The unanimous decision from three members of the board comes after employees of the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighbourhood voted 38-27 in April to form a union — a vote the company has been fighting against ever since.

Starbucks, the board order explains, “admits its refusal to bargain, but contests the validity of the union’s certification based on its contention, raised and rejected in the representation proceeding, that the regional director erred in directing an election by mail.”

The document also notes that all issues raised by Starbucks “were or could have been litigated in the prior representation proceeding,” and that the coffee company is not offering “any newly discovered and previously unavailable evidence, nor has it established any special circumstances that would require the board to re-examine the decision.”

The panel told Starbucks "to cease and desist from failing and refusing to recognise and bargain with the union, to bargain on request with the union and, if an understanding is reached, to embody the understanding in a signed agreement.”

In response to the order, a Starbucks spokesperson said: “We are challenging certification of the Seattle Roastery election and plan to appeal today’s decision.”

Starbucks Workers United, which represents more than 260 US locations that have unionised over the past year, said: “Starbucks is continuing its aggressive anti-union campaign against workers by delaying, confusing, and flat-out refusing to bargain with them.”

The company announced plans to close stores in New York and Seattle this month just days after unionised workers walked out for a “Red Cup Rebellion.” 

A Starbucks spokesperson said the move was tied to escalating “safety and security incidents.”