On Monday, eight of 10 workers at a Huntsville Starbucks voted to unionize with Starbucks Workers United. The store is the third Starbucks location in the state of Alabama to unionize, and a representative of the union told APR it is the 586th store to unionize nationwide.
“I really want to express how grateful I am for all the community support that we’ve gotten,” barista Briar Wolf emphasized during a phone call yesterday. She said people who have boycotted Starbucks “for years” began coming to the Huntsville store and telling management they would patronize a union store.
The election, Briar explained, was supervised by representatives of the National Labor Relations Board with observers from both the union and the company present. No ballots were contested by either party’s observers.
Starbucks spokesperson Phil Gee said Starbucks “respect our partners right to choose, through a fair and democratic process, to be represented by a union or not to be represented by a union, and will continue to work together to make Starbucks the best job in retail.”
Last month, Briar told APR she was expecting two people to vote against unionizing. She explained in the post-election phone call that she believes those two coworkers were “scared [by management] that they’re gonna lose opportunities at promotion,” while noting she’ll never actually know if her prediction was accurate because union elections have secret ballots.
“ I don’t blame them. I really don’t. Gotta get that bag, you know,” she joked. Briar then emphasized there won’t be any ill will going forward as the union prepares to elect the bargaining delegate that will represent the store during the union’s ongoing contract negotiation.
In addition to electing a delegate, she told APR the workers might begin planning to participate in the union’s protest of the new Starbucks dress code.
“ The main concern about the dress code is a lot of people that work at Starbucks don’t have the money to go out and buy new clothes,” Briar said. Birmingham Starbucks worker and SBWU member Naomi also told APR in April she feels the new dress code clashes with the company’s reputation.
Starbucks has said it will provide two company-branded shirts at no cost to employees, but Briar said she’s going to need a new pair of comfortable, dress code-compliant shoes, too, and “ can’t afford a new pair of shoes right now. Like, it’s not in my budget.”
“For years, Starbucks sold things on an online marketplace called Coffeegear that were sold as being dress code compliant,” Briar complained. “And suddenly most of those things are no longer dress code compliant after people spend money, paid money to Starbucks, to get clothing that was supposed to be dress code compliant.”
Gee stated that “hourly partners receive pay above industry average and best-in-class benefits, together worth an average of $30 per hour for those who work at least 20 hours per week.”
Wages though are only just above half of that $30 figure at an average of $18 per hour according to past statements from the company. Several union supporters have also spoken to APR in the past about an inability to work as many hours as they would like.
As a show of solidarity, Birmingham barista Naomi traveled to the Huntsville store on Monday. “ I work in Birmingham, but they have the exact same problems that I have out there,” she told APR. “Really, working with this team has been finding like new friends, new community, and I benefit from being around them and, you know, all we can do is celebrate together.”
Naomi says her coworkers in Birmingham have been “ hella excited” by the union’s organizing campaign and Monday’s victory. “I think people are really, really excited and this win just kind of confirms that we’re all thinking in the right place,” she enthused.
Additionally, both Naomi and Briar individually told APR they’re hoping this latest victory for the union will help spur further organizing in Alabama.
Naomi said “this is just the beginning for Starbucks Workers United in Alabama,” and asserted that “there are so many stores that need representation, and it’s only gonna be a matter of time before they realize that they’re stronger together than they are advocating for themselves.”
“I’m really hoping that other stores here in Huntsville and then across the state and the region here see that we can do this even in the South,” Briar said. “We can organize unions and we can demand to be treated fairly and equitably. It doesn’t matter where we are.”
