The Vancouver Sun Wednesday 16 July 1997
STARBUCKS, UNION SIGN HISTORIC DEAL
The B.C. contract with the coffee chain, which has 1,100
outlets, is a North American first.
Bruce Constantineau, Sun Business Reporter Vancouver Sun
Unionized workers at nine Greater Vancouver Starbucks coffee outlets
and a distribution centre have voted 95 per cent in favor of an historic
first contract that gives the 110 workers a 75-cent-an-hour pay raise,
increasing the starting wage to $7.75 an hour.
The British Columbia Starbucks locations become the first of more than
1,100 outlets in North America to negotiate a union contract with the
Seattle-based coffee giant. The Canadian Auto Workers spent nearly 10
months working for a first collective agreement.
"We see this as a very good beginning for Starbucks workers," said
CAW national representative Roger Crowther. "They're getting a 75-
cent increase on a ridiculous wage of $7 an hour."
Starbucks responded to the two-year contract agreement Tuesday by
announcing the same wages and conditions will apply to workers at all
96 B.C. Starbucks locations. Starbucks representative Shelly
Silbernagel said the company did not make that decision to try to
discourage union organizing at other B.C. outlets.
"We have always had a philosophy of treating all our [employee]
partners equally and that's the situation here."
Silbernagel expects the CAW will try to organize more Starbucks stores
but could not predict the outcome of future organizing drives.
"Each partner will make his or her own informed decision. Ultimately,
it's up to them."
There are more than 130 Starbucks locations across Canada, and
Crowther said Toronto-area workers have recently expressed an
interest in joining the union.
The 75-cent-an hour wage increase is retroactive to July 1, and another
12 cents an hour will be paid, effective July 1, 1998. The CAW said the
base rate of $7.87 next year and the top rate of $10.62 will match the
current rates paid to workers at CAW's 50 unionized Kentucky Fried
Chicken outlets throughout B.C.
The union acknowledged it didn't get everything it wanted, including
paid sick leave and a base starting rate of $10 an hour. But it said it was
pleased to negotiate an agreement where seniority becomes a key factor
in shift scheduling, providing employees have the relative ability to do
the work. The contract also contains strong anti-harassment language.
Starbucks employee Lori Banong told a news conference Tuesday that
many workers are pleased to win a first contract with Starbucks.
"It was time to take back some control and make Starbucks realize it's
the employees behind the counter that made the company what it is
today," she said.
Silbernagel said working conditions at Starbucks will remain basically
the same and noted the contract contains "groundbreaking content"
regarding the rights of a company to manage its operations. She noted,
for example, the contract allows managers and assistant managers to do
the work alongside unionized employees.
B.C. Federation of Labor secretary-treasurer Angela Schira said the
CAW contract with Starbucks is significant because service sector jobs
are no longer just short-term, entry-level, part-time positions that only
require low wage scales.
"People now realize they are going to be working at these jobs for a
few years so they need a wage that lets them make a decent living," she
said. "The service sector is the fastest growing part of the economy and
that's where most union organizing will take place in the future."
