Two Santa Cruz Starbucks locations unionize, organizers celebrate
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION-TV)-- Santa Cruz Starbucks workers are celebrating, after not one but two locations became the first to unionize in California. Several gathered at a huge rally earlier this afternoon to recognize the unionization of two Santa Cruz Starbuck stores, a movement primarily led by UCSC students.
“We feel that since we are the ones that maintain the stores, that talk to the customers, that day by day we see the things happening in our stores, we know how our stores work that we should have a voice,” said Noel Bennett, Lead Union Organizer.
The unionization comes after a successful, 14 to 1 vote passed at the Mission and Dufour location, and 13 to 1 vote at Ocean and Water street location, which is the 63rd store to win a union vote. The location needed a 2/3 majority to pass. These two stores in Santa Cruz are paving the way for California Starbucks, But workers say the fight is not over. The next big step is negotiating contracts.
"These contract fights can take a long time but with the support we have at our store we believe we can negotiate a very strong contract and set an example for all of California. And we are going to help all the stores in California organize, so we can all be on the same page contract so we can have more bargaining power," mentioned Joe Thompson, a shift supervisor.
Starbucks unionization has been a movement rippling across the country, beginning in Buffalo, New York back in November. In California, 19 stores have filed union petitions.
"Starbucks is a multibillion-dollar corporation and they are paying their workers nearly minimum wage in these states
and it's hurting workers, it's hurting the customers and you have CEOs like Howard Shultz who continue union busting even though they are losing these fights and they are losing workers because of these union-busting tactics," added Thompson.
Across the county Starbucks employees terms for unionizing have been similar. In Santa Cruz, workers are asking for increased wages, security guards at stores with high incidents, designated mental health days, and addressing staffing concerns and needs.
"Let's say there are five people on a shift, two people call out, but there's still the same amount of workers coming in, our customers coming on in. Those three workers have to work much harder instead of Starbucks pocketing those wages. And then it would be dispersed among those three equally for the higher amount of work they had to do," said Bennett, during a press conference.
A Starbucks spokesperson in a statement said, “We are listening and learning from the partners in these stores as we always do across the country. From the beginning, we’ve been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us, and that conviction has not changed. We respect our partner’s right to organize and are committed to following the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) process.”
According to SBWorkersUnited Facebook page, there are now over 240 plus stores that have filed union petitions, across 33 states, with the Starbucks Workers United Movement.
