Two Massachusetts Starbucks Unionize, Leading the Way for Others

For several Starbucks baristas, the instantly recognizable green apron has become a canvas where workers can express themselves with acrylic pins. Starbucks’ catalogue of pins, indicating anything from sign language proficiency to barista tenure, has seen a new addition appear on aprons throughout the country. A green and white pin with a black fist in the middle clenching a coffee cup, is circled by three bold words: “Starbucks Workers United.”

Since the first two Starbucks locations voted to unionize in Buffalo, N.Y. through the National Labor Relations Board, unionized locations have popped up in cities around the United States.

In the past five months, over 230 Starbucks have petitioned to unionize and more than 40 locations have certified their unionization in the United States. While only two of those locations reside in Massachusetts, the unionized Starbucks in Brookline and Allston have displayed exactly how Baristas can take back their workplace despite resistance from Starbucks corporate.

The two Starbucks, located on 1304 Commonwealth Ave. and 277 Harvard St, voted to unionize on April 11. While both locations voted separately, the petitions to unionize in both stores passed unanimously, with a vote count of 14-0 in Brookline and 11-0 in Allston.

The lead organizing baristas, Tyler Daguerre in Brookline and Kylah Clay in Allston, were the catalysts for the worker-led push to unionize in the two Massachusetts Starbucks. Aided by the national labor union Starbucks Workers United, both Daguerre and Clay mainly worked with the other baristas in their stores to spread the word and tally vote counts.

“Just reaching out to the co-workers I felt I had a really close friendship with,” said Clay. “I started asking them if they wanted to meet up at Union, a local breakfast place, so I was hinting really strongly at what I was meaning to talk about.”

Through covertly convincing people to support the unionizing effort over coffee and handing out union cards, Clay eventually garnered enough votes to file for unionization on December 13, 2021. At roughly the same time as Clay started her push, Daguerre posted a tweet asking if any baristas in the area wanted to unionize. With a sheet of his co-workers' names and various talking points and questions, Daguerre convinced his 70% of his fellow baristas to unionize, filing for unionization on the same day as the Starbucks in Allston.

Baristas around the country are demanding a living wage, a just cause clause, option for credit card tipping, fewer hour cuts and stable health care for all workers. However, the push to unionize is also about how the workplace is fundamentally organized.

“Just having a union is precedent setting, as it completely changes the power dynamic of the workplace,” said Daguerre. “The one thing that Starbucks can never give [baristas] is worker democracy. [Corporate] can never give us our power in the workplace. That is something only we can fight for.”

In response to the recent increase in unions, Starbucks has adopted a variety of tactics to stop stores from collectively bargaining at each stage of the unionization process. At unfiled locations, Starbucks is trying to steer baristas as far from unionizing as possible; at filed locations, the company is working to convince baristas to vote against unionization; and at locations that have voted to unionize, corporate has intimidated workers and attempted delay election certifications.

To locations that have not petitioned to unionize with the NLRB, Starbucks and interim CEO Howard Shultz describe the negative impact that the unions will have on communication with workers.

“We can’t ignore what is happening in the country as it relates to companies throughout the country being assaulted in many ways by the threat of unionization,” Schultz said in a Starbucks workers town hall. “I’m not an anti-union person. I am pro-Starbucks, pro-partner, pro-Starbucks culture…We didn’t get here by having a union at Starbucks.”

The Starbucks founder and two time CEO returned to the helm of the company after former CEO Kevin Johnson stepped down in March. In addition to town halls, Shultz has sent various letters to Starbucks employees and directed Starbucks’ online messaging down a toutedly anti-union path.

For baristas looking for more information about unions, Starbucks has created One Starbucks. The website contains information guiding baristas to vote against unions.

“We know that some partners are considering unionizing and know that you may have questions about that. We do not believe unions are necessary at Starbucks because we know that the real issues are solved through our direct partnership with one another. And we believe every partner deserves to know the facts and to make their own decision.”

For locations where baristas have voted to unionize, Starbucks’ anti-union tactics have taken a bitter form. Since the first unionization in Buffalo, Starbucks has fired organizing employees and has asked the NLRB to delay election certification at different locations.

In Massachusetts, the anti-union misinformation campaign has become the most common tactic. Using listening sessions, one on one meetings and lying to employees, the company is working to convince baristas to vote against unionizing.

“As Starbucks, and Howard Shultz specifically, change their approach of how-to union bust, they are going from trying to trap flies with vinegar to trying to trap flies with honey,” Daguerre said. “They sort of craft, misinterpret, and poorly explain information regarding the union trying to dissuade workers from being a part of it.”

In addition to telling its baristas to vote against unions, Starbucks has also worked to make it difficult for baristas to communicate about how a union would affect their stores.

“Honestly, it's just so unclear at this point with what we're allowed to talk about, what we're not,” said Lauren Chiasson, a first-year Northeastern communications student and barista in Scituate, Massachusetts. “Like me as an employee, I don't even know technically, concretely what I can and can't say. I think we're all just under the impression that that's like a very taboo thing and we shouldn't be talking about it. I think we're all a little scared for the repercussions at this point in time.”

Chiasson, like some Starbucks baristas, is unsure about how unions would affect her and her location. For many part time workers, the weekly union dues, ($5.47 for baristas who work less than 25 hours, and $10.84 for more than 25 hours), and the tumultuous nature of unionizing just do not seem worth it.

“Because I'm not full time as much as some other people, I don't think it would be worth it for me to join a union for some of my other coworkers who are closer to full time, closer to 40 hours, I think that they have more reasons, more protections that would be offered to them in a union,” said Chiasson.

Despite some weariness from baristas surrounding unionizations at their respective locations, Starbucks unions, and unions in general, are as popular as ever. Many accredit the popularity of unions to the pandemic, where workers around the country were told they were essential but treated as disposable. In a 2021 Gallup poll, 68% of respondents stated they supported union, a margin not reached since the 1960’s.

On May 3, four more Starbucks locations will hold their ballot count to unionize, overcoming Starbucks corporate and bringing democracy to the workplace.

Update: The four locations, (217 Western Avenue, Allston; 1948 Beacon Street, Brighton; 75 Mt. Auburn Street, Watertown; 364 Brookline Avenue, Brookline), confirmed their votes to unionize, bringing the total number of unionized Starbucks in Massachusetts to six