Wednesday, April 12, 2023

The Buzz about Starbucks

What we can learn from the organizing drive that has captured the attention of North American workers from coast to coast.

Blogs

By Michael Kamminga, Representative Intern

Starbucks is an iconic and highly influential American brand. It is a cultural juggernaut, especially among millennial and younger generations. But how did it get there?

At one point in an article published by Bloomberg Businessweek, Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ former CEO, describes his journey with the brand, its history, and his vision for the company. It’s a classic American success story. Founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker in Seattle's Pike Place Market as a coffee bean store, the company was sold to Howard Schultz in 1987, and it quickly grew from there.

The article also highlights the reasons why its employees likely desired labour relations assistance in the first place.

A single story encapsulated the reason why many Starbucks locations are choosing to unionize. It was said during a focus group meeting in early 2022 with several Starbucks partners (the term the company uses for their employees) and some union activists, and Schultz attempted to persuade them to give up their campaigning efforts.

Early in the meeting, Schultz turned to his personal history and, his own vision for the company, and reminded those gathered of the perks offered to employees, like tuition benefits. However, it was Madison Hall, an organizer, who bravely spoke up and said that “while tuition-free college is great, it doesn’t pay the rent.”

The next moment proved to be crucially devastating for Schultz. Instead of taking this criticism as a moment to reflect on the situation and inquire more from his partners, Schultz insinuated that Hall was ungrateful. “If you hate Starbucks so much, why don’t you work somewhere else?” he asked.

That quote from Schultz summarized the state of the union (pardon the pun) for Starbucks. In the end, communication at this meeting broke down, which in turn created a rift between Schultz and the workers, costing him the opportunity to win over the group. Schultz demonstrated a lack of awareness, especially to the needs of the workers as they had been campaigning for a livable wage. From then on, union activism in many stores across North America began to increase.

This is one of many reasons why unions exist. Schultz repeatedly chose not to actively listen and engage his employees in an inclusive fashion. Many employees believe that the company has painted an unrealistic portrait of their vision and have failed to live up to the promises made to their employees in the past. Then, when valid concerns were raised by the workers, their CEO shut them down.

In Canada, the momentum for union drives is still going on. At this time, there are more than 250 corporate Starbucks stores and approximately 6,500 workers unionized in the United States and six corporate stores unionized in Canada. Most of these stores voted in favour of unionization at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the momentum seems to be carrying over into 2023.

While there have been many victories for Starbucks workers to celebrate, it didn’t come without resistance. Starbucks has repeatedly been criticized for retaliating against union organizers through intimidation and terminations. Recently, Starbucks terminated a shift supervisor who was responsible for unionizing a store in Buffalo, New York, one of the first Starbucks locations in United States to unionize. Schultz (and many other Starbucks executives) have denied the accusations of retaliation and breaking federal labour laws.

What does this mean for the future? Howard Schultz is currently wrapping up his third stint as CEO, and one can only hope that the changing of the guard will bring in leadership with a more positive approach to labour relations.

As it stands right now, campaign efforts seem to be picking up steam, and we could possibly see more Starbucks stores in Canada unionize. It’s also possible that this will have a spillover effect for other workers in different companies across the service and retail sector.

For CLAC, adding to our retail membership, which includes our Save-On members in Alberta and Manitoba and those members employed by Value Village in Ontario, would be an exciting opportunity to share our unique brand of labour relations. We'll watch and see what next steps Starbucks employees in Canada and the United States take and how it will affect the retail sector at large.

The Buzz about Starbucks

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