Ticker: Boston Starbucks workers seek to unionize; Wholesale inflation jumps record 9.6%

Starbucks workers at two locations in Boston are looking to unionize, days after a successful union vote at a Starbucks in Buffalo, New York, a first for the 50-year-old coffee retailer in the U.S.

GBH News reported Monday at least 36 of some 47 employees at Starbucks have put their names down on cards indicating they want to form a union, according to organizing committee members with the Workers United Labor Union. That’s the same union vying to represent the workers in Buffalo.

A union representative said they filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for both Boston stores on Monday to advise that there was enough interest from the workers to unionize. The stores are located in the city’s Brookline and Allston neighborhoods.

A Starbucks spokesperson, when asked for comment Tuesday, referred to a letter from company CEO Kevin Johnson from a week ago about going forward together as “one Starbucks, grounded in the belief that partners (which it call employees) are the heartbeat of this company.”

Wholesale inflation jumps record 9.6%

Prices at the wholesale level surged by a record 9.6% in November from a year earlier, an indication of ongoing inflation pressures.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that its producer price index, which measures inflation before it reaches consumers, rose 0.8% in November after a 0.6% monthly gain in October. It was the highest monthly reading in four months.

Food prices, which had fallen 0.3% in October, jumped 1.2% in November. Energy prices rose 2.6% after a 5.3% percent rise in October.

The 12-month increase in wholesale inflation set a new record, surpassing the old records for 12-month increases of 8.6% set in both September and October. The records on wholesale prices go back to 2010.