Employees at two Boston-area Starbucks locations began steps to form a union on Monday, following the chain’s first U.S. union victory last week in Buffalo, New York, and a growing labor movement of cafe workers across the Greater Boston area.
“This is an amazing time for the labor movement across the country,” barista Tyler Daguerre, 26, told GBH News in an interview Monday. “I think a lot of workers are feeling like we’re not being given the wages we deserve, we’re not being given the autonomy we deserve, and it’s time for that to change.”
As of Monday, 36 of around 47 employees at locations in Brookline and Allston signed cards indicating their intent to unionize, according to organizing committee members working with the Workers United Labor Union. “We want to ensure that our voices are heard and that we have equal power to affect positive change for our store, district, and company,” employees wrote in a letter to Starbucks president and CEO Kevin Johnson on Monday. “As partners and core contributors to the company’s success, we deserve respect.”
Workers United collaborated on unionizing efforts with employees at three Buffalo Starbucks locations last week, resulting in one union victory. Another location’s vote has been disputed by organizers.
Kylah Clay, 23, a barista at the Allston location and a member of the organizing committee, says she sees this as the beginning of a national movement to unionize the labor force, particularly at corporations and in food service.
“The more people, the more stores that organize and come together, the stronger we are,” Clay said in an interview with GBH News Monday. “Buffalo is that first domino, and we hope that the Coolidge Corner and Allston stores can be the next domino here in Boston.”
Ash O’Neill, 21, a barista at the Allston location, says the movement was also inspired by local efforts, including recent unionizing efforts at multiple Pavement Coffeehouse locations, Darwin’s in Cambridge and Forge, Bloc and Diesel in Somerville.
“Seeing them be able to do it very quickly at Pavement and then seeing all the pushback from Starbucks when the Buffalo partners tried doing the same thing showed me how much we need it,” O’Neill told GBH News in an interview Monday. “It’s important that we stand up and say, ‘No, we do deserve a voice in this company. We do deserve a voice in what is going on in our everyday operations, since we're the ones who are out there every day making the coffee.’”
Employees say they have not heard back from management regarding the effort. Starbucks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After the union organizing committee in Buffalo went public in August, the worker’s organization Starbucks Workers United released a statement alleging that the corporation had engaged in union-busting tactics and brought in a task force to fight the effort. Employees at the Boston locations say they anticipate a similar response.
“We knew as soon as they found out that the response was going to be difficult,” Clay told GBH News. “We hosted a meeting to literally just go over all of the anti-union tactics and the things that we need to prepare for, things that they'll try to fire us for.”
Daguerre says he expects corporate management to step in and conduct “listening sessions” and other attempts to “sweeten the pot” and prevent the union from forming before the NLRB can count the votes — but he isn’t scared.
“I'm really confident in my fellow baristas and partners at Starbucks, and I'm really confident that people in general know that we’re doing the right thing,” Daguerre said. “If it's the right thing and the law is on our side, we can’t lose.”
