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These days, the workers at Starbucks are brewing more than strong coffee.
In early December 2021, the workers at a Starbucks facility in Buffalo forced the company to recognize their union drive and agree to bargain. Just three weeks later, the first store in Chicago announced plans to organize, inspiring several stores in the Chicago area and downstate Illinois to follow suit. By the middle of February, “Starbucks Workers United” organizing drives were spreading like wildfire. Workers at more than 100 different Starbucks locations in 26 states had petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for union elections.
The Seattle-based international coffee giant has responded with an aggressive anti-union campaign that has included the firing of union leaders in Memphis and Buffalo. In Chicago, union organizers report that in all the Illinois stores where union efforts are underway, the company is now promoting anti-union messaging, running captive audience meetings, and pitting workers against each other.
In response, efforts are underway to pass a resolution in the Chicago City Council supporting the effort to unionize. The resolution calls on Starbucks to “accept card check neutrality, and allow their workforce to discuss unionization free from threats, intimidation, anti-union propaganda and lawsuits.”
The lead sponsor of the resolution, Chicago Alderwoman Sue Sadlowski Garza, stated: “I strongly support the right of Starbucks workers to form a union and demand their fair share and equitable treatment. If Starbucks can afford over (20) million a year for CEO Kevin Johnson, they can afford to pay their workers a living wage and negotiate in good faith.”
Starbucks employee Fernando Vargas-Soto added: “Our hope is that this movement and the resolution inspire workers across Chicago to have conversations about how a union can empower workers and bring democracy to the workplace.”
The resolution on Starbucks was originally slated to be introduced during the Chicago City Council’s Feb. 23 meeting, but the press of other Council business made that impossible. Union organizers expect the resolution to be introduced in the 50-member City Council soon. They are confident it will pass. (The measure has 45 co-sponsors.)
Union organizers urge sympathetic members of the public to visit the unionizing Starbucks stores and tell the workers there that they support them. (They also suggest ordering with the name “Union Strong” – and leaving a big tip!) They also call on people to support the Chicago city ordinance demanding an end to union busting in Chicago, and to ask elected officials, faith leaders, campus groups and other community organizations to write Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson and demand fair elections at Starbucks. They also suggest that people invite Starbucks workers to their meetings and organize virtual or in-person rallies with Starbucks workers to find out how you can help.
Across the country, Starbucks workers are organizing with Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. For more information about the Starbucks campaign, follow the campaign on Twitter and Instagram — @SBWorkersUnited.
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.
