Starbucks Workers Win Breakthrough Promise of Real Negotiations
By Jenny Brown /Labor Notes/February 29, 2024 The piñata finally burst. Starbucks corporate heads agreed Tuesday to negotiate for real with the union and allow workers to organize. “I was in shock initially, and definitely some disbelief,” said Michelle Eisen, who works at the first Buffalo store that unionized with Starbucks Workers United in 2021. As she learned more, she said, she came to believe the victory is real <https://twitter.com/SBWorkersUnited/status/1762585193628803508?s=20> . The breakthrough is the cumulative effect of actions by workers, including winning union elections, marching on the boss, petitioning, store pickets, walkouts due unsafe conditions or inadequate staffing, nationwide strikes, and relentless bad press for its mistreatment of workers. Workers agreed it wasn’t one tactic or another that made the difference, but of all the things the union has done. A record 21 stores filed for union authorization elections last week. In November, Starbucks Workers conducted a nationwide strike on the company’s promotional “Red Cup” day, involving 200 stores. Almost 400 stores have voted to join Starbucks Workers United, a division of Workers United, part of the Service Employees (SEIU). They now represent 10,000 Starbucks workers. The company employs around 250,000 baristas in U.S. stores. The coffee shop chain has agreed to negotiate a “foundational framework <https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2024/message-from-sara-starbucks-and-workers-united-agree-on-path-forward/> ” with all its union stores. Presumably this means there would be a national contract and local supplements, though details are unclear. “There are still a lot of things that need to be figured out,” Eisen said. Previously Starbucks had insisted on negotiating with each café separately (typically 12 to 20 workers). However, the company stalled negotiations, and no progress was made at the table even at the earliest stores to unionize. Full at: https://www.labornotes.org/2024/02/starbucks-workers-win-breakthrough-promise-real-negotiations -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#29194): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/29194 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/104657965/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
