The Starbucks Workers’ Union Has Finally Broken Through
The Starbucks Workers’ Union Has Finally Broken Through
After years of relentless union busting — costing the company nearly a quarter-billion dollars, in one estimate — Starbucks Workers United has now forced the corporation to negotiate. It may prove the most important organizing breakthrough in decades.
I'm not sure why the Starbucks unionizing effort has excited me so much. I will never have the opportunity to join a union in my field with 100% certainty - but damn do I want to see them continue to bloody Starbucks' nose!
Even if unionizing your current employment is uphill, you might still want to work somewhere else one day. It always makes sense to support whatever union is closest to your field by joining the union.
You will also likely benefit from others being unionised. F..i. when Starbucks needs to honor decent employment terms, everyone in the barista field will need to match it or fall behind on employing, because who the hell wants to apply for a job that pays less?
Union membership is good karma that way.
You will also likely benefit from others being unionised. F…i. when Starbucks needs to honor decent employment terms, everyone in the barista field will need to match it or fall behind on employing, because who the hell wants to apply for a job that pays less?
That raises a question I've been wondering about for a while: why do we keep hearing about unions for specific companies, and not "all baristas" (or even "all fast food workers," for that matter)?
To me, it's exciting because they're showing success at one of the hardest workplaces to organizing labour. Starbucks Workers United seems to have everything going against them:
- employees are more likely than at other workplaces to be short/medium-term, so it might be hard to convince employees to think about the long-term
- each store have relatively few employees but they're going up against one of the biggest corporations in the world
- Starbucks is general seen as a "pretty good job", so it's got to be hard to convince employees to not just accept whatever they're offered.
Yet, they're persisting!
I haven’t been tabs on the Star Bucks union but I am glad it hasn’t fizzled out yet.