by Since December 17, 2021, when the first Starbucks store in Buffalo, NY beat the odds and won their union election, a cascade of now over 150 stores across the country have filed for election. Public awareness and worker militancy is rising, but Starbucks has escalated their union-busting campaign as well. What’s needed now is bold, collective action to force Starbucks to back off.
By Alex Stout
Starbucks workers are boldly, rapidly, store by store, filing for union elections in the face of illegal yet escalating retaliation from corporate. With the announcement yesterday, March 22 of a unanimous vote to unionize at a store in Seattle (the first on the West coast), there are now seven unionized Starbucks in the US. These successes are inspiring many others to take action, and the wave of more than 150 stores filing for election will continue to accelerate as long as expectations remain high.
Starbucks, however, is putting the full weight of its multi-billion dollar revenue on the other side of the scale. Under pressure from this organic unionization drive, Kevin Johnson is being replaced as CEO by Howard Schultz, brought in for his historic experience as a union-buster. Last month the “Memphis 7,” all members of the organizing committee at their store, were collectively fired in a blatant attempt to stamp out the spreading fire of unionization. This month the primary union-busting tactic has been slightly more subtle, but even more dangerous: slashing the hours of anyone suspected of being pro-union.
This (still illegal) pernicious move puts workers in a double-bind: option 1 is that pro-union workers targeted by this hour-cutting can “voluntarily” quit; option 2 is to seek a 2nd job in order to make ends meet; however, this means communicating their lowered availability to Starbucks, which may then fire the worker for “not being available enough”, despite Starbucks historically being very flexible with part time workers. Option 3 is to organize and hit back, hard.
The hour-cutting, alongside a variety of intimidation tactics, is continuing despite the NLRB recently formally charging Starbucks with retaliation at one store in Phoenix, Arizona. Similarly, the NLRB’s repeated rulings in favor of the right to organize store by store didn’t stop Starbucks from filing frivolous complaints for months to delay new elections. Starbucks is willing to lose profits and risk legal penalties if that allows it to break the tidal wave of unionization. Beyond issues of legality and fairness, this is a fight between workers and bosses. What is needed is more than a friendly labor board: we need to use worker power to shut this tactic down!
Fundraising is underway to keep up the momentum despite the crackdown, but in a war of attrition, Starbucks has the advantage. What we need now is bold, decisive action to make Starbucks back off.
In January the workers at the Elmwood store in Buffalo, NY, were able to win concessions with a short strike, and now Starbucks workers across the country have paid leave when exposed to the coronavirus at work.
More recently workers at a store in Denver, CO, went on strike March 11th, and are still holding strong (despite Starbucks’ suspiciously-timed announcement that paid leave for coronavirus exposure would be increased). There’s a big difference to Starbucks between an understaffed store and one that they are forced to close, but to some extent Starbucks is willing to take losses if it allows them to keep control of the situation.
It is urgent that Starbucks Workers United organize a nationwide conference for all workers involved to develop demands and a joint plan of action that can boldly tap into the community support that DSA and so many other groups are offering.If we take steps now toward greater coordination between Starbucks workers and community partners (including other unions), such as by establishing cross-store cross-community organizing bodies like the Starbucks Workers Solidarity Committee in Seattle, we can boost the confidence of the workers and give them the capacity they need to fight back with every available tool. This would allow larger scale actions, such as nationally coordinated days of action with hour-long shutdowns of stores with the help of the community, and an active preparation for joint strike action in unionized and unionizing stores.
Alex Stout is a member of DSA and the Reform and Revolution caucus. They are the chair of the Phoenix DSA labor committee.
