Oct. 19—Starbucks employees at the Highway 20 and Tharp Road location in Yuba City recently filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to unionize with Starbucks Workers United.
According to store employees, this organization campaign comes in response to persisting staffing issues, limited hours and safety concerns impacting workers' job performances and livelihoods.
"The partners in this store navigate difficulties every day ranging from understaffed floors for business needs, product shortages, broken equipment, limited hours, to health and safety concerns. Starbucks didn't create all of these issues but they have failed to provide long-term or timely solutions," store employees said in a letter to Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan. "Despite these shortcomings, baristas manage and continue to make meaningful connections with customers and, not only achieve, but far surpass goals as a top store in our district. However, as partners in this company, we deserve the support and acknowledgment of management in addressing these concerns."
The store's interest in unionizing reflects similar efforts at Starbucks locations nationwide. In 2021, a Buffalo, New York, Starbucks became the first company-owned cafe to unionize, and other stores quickly followed, the New York Times reported. According to Starbucks Workers United, over 360 locations are unionized across the country.
Organization efforts at the Tharp Road Starbucks involve all full-time and regular part-time baristas and shift supervisors. Those excluded are all store managers, office clericals, supervisors and guards, according to the filing with the National Labor Relations Board.
Kaitlyn Brooks, a shift supervisor who has worked at Starbucks for five years, believes that there is a general lack of support from Starbucks upper management that contributes to the store's persisting issues. Employees are looking for more understanding of performance demands from their district manager.
It was a discussion between a Starbucks district manager and Tharp Road barista trainers over the summer that sparked their unionization efforts. According to Brooks, upper management was placing a lot of responsibility on their employees to improve the store's sales and customer service while ignoring ongoing staffing issues.
"We were having a conversation about how to be better barista trainers. Basically, they put a bunch of responsibility on us to solve a lot of problems with the business like our drive-thru times and customer connections. Obviously, that is a part of our role, but the issue was they weren't taking any accountability for the struggles with staffing and how we're overwhelmed with everything," Brooks said. "It had just been piling on until that point. It was the last straw of being expected to handle all these problems ourselves without any support from corporate."
Tharp Road Starbucks employees were quickly connected with union representatives from Starbucks Workers United, and are currently waiting for an election date to formally vote on unionizing.
J.J. Dizon, a shift supervisor who has worked at the Tharp Road location for six years, told the Appeal that the employees' efforts stem from a desire to see workers treated fairly. One of the biggest issues, she says, is the seemingly arbitrary way hours are awarded to employees.
According to Dizon, shift hours are determined through a number of metrics that include sales per half hour and partner availability, but there is little transparency from management on what employees can do to earn more hours.
The Tharp Road location maintains a team of around 25 employees, but despite having an adequate number of workers, Dizon and her coworkers feel as though staffing is kept to a bare minimum. Their confusion is furthered by the fact that the Tharp Road Starbucks has not suffered any loss in business to justify staff shortages, Dizon said.
"It just feels like we are constantly asked to do more with less. It felt like we were downsizing the number of staff on our shifts at a time," Dizon said.
"We would get staffed with these skeleton crews," Brooks continued. "If someone calls out or if one person is sick, it causes a huge (disruption). If it's past 8 a.m., we have to start calling people for coverage and it affects our business. It just causes a bunch of problems for us."
According to barista partner Allie Caldwell, her hours were cut without explanation during the last holiday season. Caldwell was previously working an average of 30 hours per week, which was cut in half during one of Starbucks' busiest sales periods.
"We were hiring more people to help with the holidays, and yet, no one has any hours," Caldwell said. "I was never given an explanation."
Limited shift hours has especially affected Brooks who applied at Starbucks for the company's student tuition and medical insurance benefits. Employees who work less than 20 hours per week on average become ineligible for company benefits, she said.
"I lost my access to benefits because I wasn't getting enough hours. ... Some weeks I would get around 20. Some weeks I would get 17 or 18. The way it averaged out over a six month period made me ineligible for benefits. I'm not the only person this has happened to," Brooks said.
Caldwell also aims to campaign for better wages and communication through Starbucks Workers United in response to higher drink prices. Starbucks baristas in California currently receive a base pay of $16 an hour, and a sliding pay scale is given to employees who have stayed with the company for five years or more. However, some employees believe that they should be compensated in relation to increased store prices.
"Everytime Starbucks does a launch for fall or holiday items, they raise the prices of drinks. We see it consistently. A lot of times, (upper management) doesn't tell us, and our pay stays pretty much the same," Caldwell said.
As Starbucks workers across the country seek to unionize, some union representatives have claimed the coffee chain has taken on a campaign of union busting. Starbucks has been accused of retaliating against unionized workers and stores by withholding raises and access to benefits, the Seattle Times reported.
In late September, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled that Starbucks violated a federal labor law when it increased wages and offered new perks and benefits only to non-union employees across the country. These benefits included credit card tipping, increased training, and faster sick time accrual to all stores that weren't unionized, the Seattle Times reported. Starbucks was ordered to compensate thousands of unionized workers for the wages and benefits they were unlawfully denied.
In a statement to the Appeal, Starbucks officials said that the company respects employees' right to organize and will focus on ensuring that workers can trust the unionization process.
"As a company, we believe that our direct relationship as partners is core to the culture and experiences we create in our stores. To that end, wherever we can quickly and broadly improve partner benefits and perks, our history demonstrates we have — ensuring we continue to provide our partners the best benefits for hourly work in the U.S. That's why we've made more than $1.4 billion in investments over the past year to improve the experience in our stores and for our partners. We recognize that a subset of partners feel differently, and we respect their right to organize and to engage in lawful union activities without fear of reprisal or retaliation," officials said.
Once a voting date is set, Tharp Road Starbucks employees will participate in a neutral, secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board to determine whether the store will officially unionize.
According to Caldwell, her coworkers are excited for the opportunity to join nationwide union efforts. When barista trainers first broached the topic of unionizing, Brooks said that approximately 40% of the store's employees were already supportive of the idea, and support has continued to grow ever since.
Should workers vote in favor of unionizing, Brooks said the next step is organizing committees with company partners to negotiate contracts and represent all employees. Brooks, Caldwell and Dizon hope that their store's efforts inspire other Starbucks workers in the area to follow suit.
"It's not just about this store. I want to be an example for other stores in our area to encourage them that they can do the same thing. I know it's not just us who are struggling with hours and loss of benefits and not being appreciated by higher ups. Us taking that first step could inspire other stores to do the same," Brooks said.
