Posted on 05/12/2022 10:23:38 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Two Starbucks stores in Santa Cruz, California, voted to unionize, becoming the first two Starbucks store in California to do so. A third Santa Cruz store will vote to unionize in June.
By a vote of 15 to two the Starbucks store located at Mission and Dufour Street has voted to unionize. A second Starbucks located on Ocean and Water Street voted 13 to one to unionize. These are the first two stores in the state to do so, and among the first 50 in the country.
At least 51% of the store’s employees needed to vote in favor of the union for official recognition.
Union organizer Joseph Thompson for the Ocean and Water Street store told KSBW in January that the Santa Cruz store isn’t doing enough to protect its employees, claiming the location can be dangerous and experiences high rates of harassment and other hazardous situations.
Employees at a third Starbucks store are also voting to unionize. Their results will be known in early June.
Starbucks issued this statement after the vote:
"We are listening and learning from the partners in these stores as we always do across the country. From the beginning, we've been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us, and that conviction has not changed. We respect our partner's right to organize and are committed to following the NLRB process."
Nation Wide Trend
More than 230 Starbucks stores across the country have filed petitions to unionize and about 50 have voted to join, according to an NPR report on May 3.
A recent Gallup Poll found that 77% of young adults between the ages of 18 and 34 support labor unions. That contributes to an overall 68% approval rating among the American public, the highest approval rating in over half a century. In 1965 approval ratings measured at 71%.
“Young people are energetic,” Steven McKay, a sociologist professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said.
Despite high public approval, union membership has remained stagnant the past couple of years but has historically been declining since 1983, when 20% of Americans belonged to a union. Today 10% of Americans are in a union.
“The way work has been organized … has made it specifically difficult to join a union. So I'm not surprised that the attitude is high and going up," McKay said.
How Unionization Works
According to the National Labor Relations Board, workers can initiate the process to unionize if they meet the minimum requirement: at least 30% of employees have signed cards or a petition saying they want a union.
Afterward, the NLRB will conduct an election. At least 51% of the store’s employees need to vote in favor of the union for official recognition.
Starbucks Response
Starbucks sent the following statement to KSBW 8 in January following the initial unionization vote in Santa Cruz.
"Employees nationwide have recently received multiple wage increases. In December 2020, Starbucks increased starting wages by 5% and then gave a 10% raise to all baristas and supervisors. Tenured employees received an 11% raise.
By Summer 2022, U.S. hourly employees will be paid an average of $17 per hour.
Company protocol dictates that employee schedules are set three weeks in advance, a Starbucks spokesperson said.
Starbucks stores can implement a security guard if the situation calls for it, a spokesperson for the coffee giant said.
According to the New York Times, the Starbucks union says that the company is cutting hours across the country in an attempt to have longtime employees quit the company. In other instances they have fired pro-union employees while siting safety and security policies.
Good for them, longer vape breaks, no cleaning up after nut cases glue themselves to countertops, equal pay for unequal work, all good.
How else are “studies” majors supposed to command salaries like those nerdy kids in engineering?
By selling overpriced, over-sugared coffee to the nerdy kids in engineering? Oh, wait. They’re already doing that.
I’d rather talk about racism. Heh heh.
Pouring burnt rubber tasting coffee is a craft and should be respected. There are few who can do that /sarc
They should unionize and 75% of their takehome pay after taxes should be taken in union dues, for the community. It’s only right, since they support communism. They need to keep 25% to buy their drugs with.
$6 is just not enough for a coffee..
It is going to be $12 a cup due to unionization.
I recommend everyone support and patronize LOCAL, private, and family-owned for anything and everything you need, as much as is possible - coffee, restaurants, hardware, clothing, groceries, farms, etc...
America is steadily falling under the sway of left/fascist-centralized-political-corporate control. Support civil-society, local networks and dispersed government as much as possible.
when it hits 12 bucks..
step 3 will happen.
no one will buy it and they go out of business.
The workers want their “share” of the profits from overpriced coffee.
When Walmart store is vote to unionize, they just close the store. They have as many stores as some large companies have employees. They can afford it. I assume Starbucks is in the same position.
That will be $18 for your mocha frappucino, please...
Yup. My youngest graduated from UC Santa Cruz. Two types of kids there - either nerdy or partying types. My kid was the nerdy type. They go down the hill from the campus into town and spend money in the cafes and restaurants. We scouted around for housing when she left the dorms in her 2nd year, and were shocked to find real estate was more expensive than San Francisco, so rents were high. Everything is expensive in Santa Cruz including the coffee, thanks to money flowing from parents of these students.
People who join unions these days kill the golden goose. I’ve watch these things for years. Many places actually care about their employees, I’ve worked at places where great sacrifice is made by owners to keep their employees going and getting checks in bad times. I have seen owners sell off personal assets to make sure payroll is met. That changes once unions come in. Owners, especially those who have been thoughtful and generous feel betrayed. When business slows in a recession the attitude is, oh well, lay them off. The dumb employees never realize what they’ve lost.
Partying types? My attraction was the pass/fail grading system decades ago. Didn’t go.
So long star bucks
Yes, I'm also familiar with that type of situation. Employers who actually care about their employees is hard to find these days except in businesses under 100 employees.
Let me guess which Union.....SEIU ?
I go Ferrell’s Donuts for my coffee and a buttermilk donut when I’m there.
Hate Starbucks. It is over priced and I don’t want to stand around waiting for some dork to give me a black cup of coffee 10 minutes later.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.