2022 Profiles in Courage
Starbucks Bridges Union Baristas
To us, working at The Bridges Starbucks isn't just a job - we love the company, what it stands for (on paper, at least), and our coworkers that have become real friends throughout the years. We absolutely love working together – When you come into our store, you will probably notice us laughing and smiling more than anything else! We really love our jobs, and we really care about each other so the rise of the Starbucks Workers United movement across the country was a bit of a wake-up call for us. A lot of things that we had just accepted as "normal" are not okay, but we put up with it for the chance to keep working with the partners we love. We had learned to just deal with chronic understaffing, hours being cut (even when "Now hiring" signs were prominently posted outside!), store hour being changed, and bogus disciplinary actions- just to name a few - and we all chalked it up to poor internal management.
But when we learned these things were happening in other stores across the country, and that those partners were standing up and trying to do something about it, it led us to want to do the same. Union organizing seemed really intimidating, especially for those of us who are young. Most of our partners are still in high school and college, so nobody really had any experience with labor unions. Some partners had never even heard of a labor union. But the idea of working together to make things better for EVERYONE at The Bridges, not just our individual selves, was the driving force behind our decision to join the national movement to unionize.
When we started organizing, our movement quickly spread to the community and the support we received was incredible. Roanoke has always been a union town, and those that showed up for us only solidified that in our minds. Customers asked us both in-store and in the drive thru for updates nearly every day after the word got out. People came to our store from out of state because they, too, were union members and wanted to make sure their coffee was union-made. We held several rallies outside the store with great turnout, including turnout by local politicians and other influential people. We even had an article featuring some of our partners published in the Roanoke Times! Our community supported us in financial ways, too. People from across the country donated nearly $10,000 to a GoFundMe that was split across all our store partners. This came at a critical moment, as morale had been plummeting inside the store due to management's blatant union-busting efforts. They took down our posters, told us we could not discuss the union amongst ourselves on the clock, and tried to stop us from talking about it with customers.
We filed for our union vote on February 14th of this year and were ecstatic to learn we voted unanimously - 14-0! - on June 26th. Incredibly, almost all the votes to unionize came from partners under the age of 25. Those same partners who only months before had never even heard of a union. Since then, it's been a whirlwind of meetings and strategy sessions with local, regional, and national union representatives, who have been crucial in allowing us to solidify a contract and support us in our bargaining efforts. This new form of community has been invigorating and has excited all of us even more to fight for our basic rights. We're so grateful to our leaders at SBWU and SEIU for helping us navigate these challenges, including Becky Hess and Ginny Diamond, and we're even more grateful that this has excited all of us to fight for our rights even more.
We are scheduled to have our first bargaining session with the company on November 2nd. As of the writing of this blurb we have heard nothing in from them about whether their representatives will attend, but we have nailed down our non-economic proposals and are so ready to bring them to the table. For updates and to show your support, please follow our Facebook page, "Starbucks Bridges Union." And continue to support us with your business, so we can show the community and the company that unionizing is not something to be afraid of. It is worth celebrating and rallying around. We have come so far, and we know we still have a long way to go.
Thank you for helping us remember we are not alone. In UNITY there is SOLIDARITY!!!! Roanoke is a Union Town, and we are so Proud to be the 1st Starbucks in Roanoke and SWVA to be UNION!!!!