A potentially historic effort to unionize the Seattle-based coffee company burst on to the national scene late last year when workers at three Buffalo-area Starbucks stores voted to unionize. The boldness of those workers soon prompted many other Starbucks employees to also seek to be represented by the union Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.
As of late April, workers at 223 Starbucks in 31 states had filed for unionization votes with the National Labor Relations Board. [As of May 25, Starbucks Workers United has unionized more than 80 Starbucks stores across the United States. Editors note] While that number is just a fraction of the roughly 9,000 company-operated stores in the United States, reports of new successful votes are pouring in on a daily basis.
On March 19, workers at a Starbucks in Overland Park, Kansas went on a one-day strike to protest unfair working conditions. They struck again in early April. On April 8, they won a union election.
On April 19, five Starbucks stores in the Richmond, Virginia area voted for union representation by an overwhelming majority. On April 21, workers at the company’s Seattle Reserve Roastery – a flagship tourist attraction in Starbucks’ home city – announced a successful vote for a union. On April 27, the workers at the Oak Creek, Wisconsin store near Milwaukee voted to unionize, becoming the first in the state to do so.
“We are so proud to be the first union Starbucks in Wisconsin and hope even more stores will follow in our footsteps,” said Hannah Fogarty, a barista and organizer at the Oak Creek store who spoke to Biz Times, a website that covers Milwaukee business news. “Workers United has been incredibly supportive; any store hoping to organize should look no further. Working with them on this national movement has been exciting, and we have no doubt that they will help us negotiate a contract that reflects our values.”
Hannah Fogarty was right to describe the Starbucks union drive as a “national movement” – and that fact has not been lost on the management of Starbucks. Discarding its carefully crafted image as a “progressive” company, Starbucks has responded to the union drive with classic anti-union bullying tactics.
A business columnist in the Los Angeles Times noted:
“The company has mounted a fierce counterattack against the organizing drive. In videotaped town hall presentations, written communications to workers and managers, and in meetings with workers around the country, [Starbucks CEO Howard] Schultz has repeatedly characterized unions as a menace to the company’s economics and future.”
Starbucks has hired Littler Mendelson, a law firm notorious for its anti-union publicity campaigns. These campaigns include all the elements of the standard anti-union playbook: paint the union as “outsiders”; accuse the union of only being interested in the workers’ dues money; and say that a union will drive the company out of business or make it impossible for workers to go directly to management.
The stage is now set for an epic battle, with Starbucks and its anti-union law firm on one side and the Starbucks workers and their union on the other. Starbucks management seems determined to squash any further attempts to unionize before even more momentum builds. On the other side, the Starbucks workers who are overworked, underpaid, and often under-scheduled, simply cannot back down. It’s time for all of us to extend them our support.
Visit unionizing Starbucks stores and tell the workers there that you support them. (Leave a big tip.) Ask elected officials and community organizations to write to Starbucks CEO Howard Schulz and demand fair elections at Starbucks. Invite Starbucks workers to your community meetings and ask how you can help.
For more information about how to help the Starbuck Workers Rising campaign, follow the campaign on Twitter and Instagram — @SBWorkersUnited
Chris Mahin
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Chris Mahin is a writer, speaker, and teacher on contemporary U.S. politics and history, particularly on the significance of the American Revolutionary War and Civil war eras for today. He is the Electoral Desk on the People’s Tribune Editorial Board.
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