Starbucks Workers: “We’ve got your back!”

Seattle DSA builds Starbucks Worker Solidarity Campaign

By Connor Rauch

Over the past three months, the Starbucks Worker Solidarity Campaign of Seattle Democratic Socialists of America has hit the streets to raise the profile of the historic union drive at the world’s largest and most notorious coffee chain. “Our solidarity campaign has plastered the city with beautiful posters, co-hosted rallies and solidarity actions, and put on ‘Suds & Solidarity’’ socials where SDSA members and, occasionally, Starbucks workers, discuss the latest developments of the Starbucks unionization drive,” comments Bryan Watson, a co-chair of Seattle DSA’s Solidarity Campaign.

Talking to Customers, Building Support

But the centerpiece of SDSA’s solidarity campaign week-by-week has been our tabling operation. As baristas organize inside the shops, the Starbucks Worker Solidarity Campaign has tabled outside of unionizing shops to talk with customers about the heroic union drive at Starbucks and the company’s draconian union busting. We collect signatures for our solidarity pledge, raise funds for the Pacific Northwest Starbucks worker relief fund, and point supporters to numerous ways to show solidarity with workers. Our work has been cut out for us with nine Starbucks stores in the Seattle area already filed for NLRB elections. One store on Broadway & Denny won their election unanimously just a couple weeks ago! Next on deck is the Seattle Starbucks Roastery, where Howard Schultz gets his drinks, where over 100 Starbucks workers will vote.

The support for Starbucks workers at our tables from the Seattle community has been extraordinary. To date, nearly 2000 community members, including over 100 Starbucks workers have signed our solidarity pledge. So should you! https://actionnetwork.org/forms/take-the-solidarity-pledge-2/. Starbucks union organizers asked us to table outside of unionizing shops both to boost morale of workers inside and because the workers themselves can’t talk with their regulars and customers about the union drive, what they are fighting for, and what Starbucks is doing to bust the union.

Many customers and passersby brim with excitement talking about union drives at Starbucks and, more recently, Amazon! I’ve met teachers, carpenters, train conductors, ironworkers, pilots, graduate students, nurses, even a former coal miner who were exhilarated about Starbucks and Amazon workers organizing and whose unions were buzzing with talk about workers taking on the biggest corporations in the world. Many union members expressed optimism that workers are beginning to find a voice again after decades of corporate onslaught on the union movement, facilitated especially by right-wing Republicans but always supported by “liberal” and “progressive” bosses like Starbucks’ union-busting Howard Shultz and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Despite many promises, Democrats have failed to pass any significant pro-union legislation–like the PRO Act–and instead, when push comes to shove, follow the interest of their Wall Street donors.

Other customers have been skeptical at first, having heard in the corporate media that Starbucks is a progressive corporation and Howard Shultz is a good boss. More often than not, these illusions evaporate when the customer hears about Starbucks’ poverty wages and inadequate benefit package. Their admiration for Howard Shultz turns into horror when they hear about how Starbucks treats their unionizing “partners” by firing long-time employees, intimidating workers with 3-on-1 captive audience meetings, and attempting to starve out organizers by slashing hours in stores that have filed for NLRB elections.

A small number of people have shown outright hostility to the union campaign. These openly antagonistic few, often identifiable by their fancy suits and expensive jewelry, throw some choice words before getting into their Cadillac or Tesla.

Starbucks Workers at the Heart of the Campaign

“From the start, we’ve organized our solidarity campaign in close collaboration with the workers at Starbucks and their union, Starbucks Workers United,” emphasizes Bryan. Two of the unionizing workers are the co-chairs of our Starbucks Worker Solidarity Campaign. We wanted to mobilize and activate our DSA members (who are already fired up and excited about the unionization efforts) to step up and actively support the workers, and do this as much as possible supportive and in alignment with the needs of the workers inside the shops. 

Starbucks workers have joined us in tabling after long shifts or on their days off to talk to customers about what they are fighting for with a union. Others have stopped by on their breaks to tell us they appreciate the community support and to inform us about Starbucks’ latest union busting tactic. 

Last weekend, a shift leader dropped by our table outside his store on 5th and Pike to let us know that the community support they’ve been receiving has been a huge morale booster after being subjected to 3-on-1 anti-union meetings and threats from management. He recounted with glee the first time we showed up at their store with our “Union Busting is Disgusting” banner and tables: “You guys showed up with your big banner and our manager was really nervous. She didn’t know what to do. She was taking photos to consult with other managers.” When asked about the level of support for unionization in his store, the worker immediately responded: “unanimous, completely unanimous.”

Starbucks workers are beginning to rise up and fight back and the working class of Seattle supports them. The wave of unionizations at Starbucks and the union victory at the JFK8 Amazon warehouse led by Amazon Labor Union show the potential for organizing the service industry and large companies that just months ago seemed impossible to unionize. 

It’s the duty of socialists, through our solidarity actions and events, to help other workers see that Starbucks workers winning a union and a good contract is in the interest of the entire working class. As DSA members, our job is to help Starbucks customers and fellow workers draw the conclusion that if they believe Starbucks workers deserve better pay, more consistent scheduling, and a union then they do too–and vice versa.

The road to a union contract at Starbucks, especially a strong one, will be arduous. Through politicized tabling and building community support mobilization networks, socialists show Starbucks workers that they have our full support if they take the militant actions, such as protests and strikes, that are required to stop the anti-union onslaught by Starbucks and take back some of the billions in profit built off the workers’ backs. In Washington state, two Starbucks stores, in Olympia and Marysville, have already staged brief strikes in protest of Starbucks cutting hours and union busting. The bold actions of Starbucks workers in Olympia and Marysville point towards a broader wave of escalating tactics initiated by rank-and-file workers. Donate to the Relief Fund for PNW Starbucks Workers United to support these workers when they take more radical steps!

 “We need to make this wave of unionizing as large as possible now, we need all the momentum we can build, because this will not be just a short ride to victory,” argues Bryan, “to actually win a contract and build a strong union, the workers need to know that we’ve got their back for the coming challenges to force the union-busting management around Howard Shultz to concede a contract that guarantees hours and income to the workers, expands wages and benefits.”