NEW NE WS party” or outsider that’s running this rapidly expanding organizing campaign. It’s the baristas themselves who — in tandem with the independent organizing efforts of Trader Joes’ workers, Amazon workers, Dollar General workers and more — are upending business as usual in the U.S. labor movement. At the 400 S. Park Ave. Starbucks in Winter Park, factors such as low wages, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the high cost of living in the Orlando area were primary motivators for unionization. Sean Ebersviller, a barista and union leader at the Winter Park Starbucks, told Orlando Weekly in May that the grief, uncertainty and constant anxiety of COVID-19 “has made people’s labor more valuable. And it has also made a lot of people realize how valuable their labor is.” Wages for Starbucks’ frontline workers — baristas, shift supervisors, assistant store managers — also haven’t kept up with the rising rate of inflation, or Orlando’s skyrocketing rent and housing costs. Ebersviller told Orlando Weekly when their store first filed to join the union that workers make an average $12.60 an hour. “It is most definitely not enough to live on literally anywhere in Orlando. Not in Winter Park, not in Oviedo … not in a shack in rural Seminole County,” Ebersviller said. “You can’t live on $12 an hour.” In fact, they said one of the first things they were told by a co-worker — or “partner,” as Starbucks calls their employees — is how to sign up for food stamps. As Starbucks’ profits soar, workers say they want to feel that their labor is valued, respected and compensated appropriately — enough to earn a livable wage working for Starbucks union at Winter Park’s South Park Ave store fails an employer that’s long touted socially progressive values. by narrow margin after workers vote With Starbucks throwing hundreds of dollars an hour the way of its anti-union law firm, pro-union workers also want BY MC KEN N A SCHUELER the coffee giant — and its billionaire interim CEO, Howard Since January, five Starbucks stores in Florida have Schultz — to stop thwarting their unionization efforts and wo months after filing for a union election, Starbucks workers at the 400 S. Park Ave. Starbucks unionized with Starbucks Workers United, a worker-led stand down. Just last month, a highly frequented, unionized Starbucks in Winter Park narrowly voted against unionizing campaign of Workers United, an independent affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, which repre- in a bustling part of Ithaca, New York, was shuttered by the with Starbucks Workers United on Wednesday. The final tally was five votes for the union, eight votes sents workers across various industries, including property coffee giant after workers went on strike over an overflowing grease trap in the store. against. According to the National Labor Relations Board, services, healthcare, higher education faculty and more. But yes, workers at three Starbucks in Florida — a state And last week, Starbucks announced they planned to that’s about a 65 percent voter turnout. Thirteen out of 20 eligible voters voted by mail over the last month, and there that has an abysmally low rate of union membership — have close 16 more stores, several of which have a union presvoted against joining the union. ence, citing safety concerns. were no void or challenged ballots. And workers at three other locations have withdrawn When asked about the closures, a Starbucks spokesWhile this wasn’t the expected outcome for the union, a staffer for Workers United — the parent union of Starbucks their petitions for union petitions, including a Starbucks person told the pro-labor publication In These Times, Workers United — says the union remains undeterred in in southwest Florida that had been scheduled to vote in “We’re empowering local leaders, who have emphasized repeatedly that they care deeply about creating a safe and their fight to ensure all workers who want a union will person on Tuesday. But that’s not to say there’s no interest in unionization. welcoming environment in the community. The company is have one. “The Organizers of SBWU [Starbucks Workers United] Rollins College professor of sociology Matt Nichter, who renewing its commitment to safety, kindness and welcomare proud of every partner that stands strong in the face studies the labor movement and who helped organize ing in our stores.” The union, however, is calling their bluff. “While just of Starbucks’ continued union busting tactics, and that is “sip-in” events in support of union drives at Orlando-area no different in this instance,” Camden Mitchell, a repre- Starbucks stores, says organizing a union — particularly 3 percent of Starbucks nationwide are in the process of sentative of the Southern Regional Joint Board of Workers when you’re facing highly funded opposition from your unionizing, more than 30 percent of the stores Starbucks is closing have active union campaigns,” the union wrote in a United, told Orlando Weekly in a statement. “They will employer — is no small feat. “The election loss was disappointing, but the strug- recent newsletter powered by and for Starbucks workers. continue to fight back against a company which resorts Starbucks has denied they’re targeting pro-union stores, consistently to threats and retaliation in order to halt any gle continues,” Nichter told Orlando Weekly on Thursday. “Across the country, workers are learning that unions give according to Insider. But the union has filed an unfair labor and all organizing by their workforce.” practice with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging Across the United States, over 300 of roughly 9,000 them power and a collective voice in the workplace.” It’s true. According to the National Labor Relations the closures are a blatant example of union-busting. Starbucks stores have filed to unionize since December, Both Starbucks and its billionaire CEO Schultz have a when a Starbucks in Buffalo, New York, became the first Board, the number of union election petitions filed in the unionized, company-owned store in the United States. first three-quarters of this fiscal year, from Oct. 1 to June 30, long history of crushing union activity. Over the last year, the NLRB has identified at least 200 illegal violations of Nearly 200 have voted to join the union, while fewer than were up 58 percent from the previous fiscal year. And national polling shows union support is at its highest federal labor law committed by the company. 40 have voted against. In a cruel shot at workers’ livelihood — yes, in this Orlando’s already shown the country watching this point in decades. Over the last year, the nascent Starbucks rapidly expanding organizing campaign that it, too, can be Workers United campaign has galvanized thousands of economy — Starbucks has also falsely claimed workers union-strong. Just last month, a Starbucks in Oviedo, near workers, many of whom — including at the Winter Park at unionized stores would be exempt from pay raises and the University of Central Florida campus, became the first store — are young, LGBTQ+ and fired up. Contrary to the coffee giant’s complaints, it’s not a “third Orlando-area Starbucks to unionize. [continued on page 13]
BUCKING THE TREND
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JULY 27-AUG. 2, 2022 ● ORLANDO WEEKLY
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