The fight to unionize Starbucks stores around the country has gotten uglier. Since late last year, employee-led labor organizing efforts have resulted in hundreds of stores successfully forming unions. But this week, Starbucks workers are accusing the coffee chain of poorly delivering information on whether or not a new abortion benefit would apply to workers at unionized locations. It’s the latest in a series of allegations that Starbucks is conducting anti-organizing behavior in order to deter employees from joining unions across its almost 9,000 U.S. stores.
On June 15, Starbucks updated its medical coverage to allow employees who are enrolled in the company-sponsored health care plan to receive a reimbursement for abortion-related travel. The new benefit was introduced in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s Friday decision to overturn Roe v. Wade—the landmark 1973 ruling that made abortion a constitutional right.
But the official statement on the benefit did not clearly guarantee that it would be available to workers in a Starbucks union, some employees argue. Sara Kelly, the acting executive vice president of Starbucks’ Partner Resources, said that federal labor laws required collective bargaining to determine all wages, benefits, and working conditions for unionized workers. (Starbucks refers to their employees as “partners.”) “That means Starbucks cannot make promises” about any benefits for workers currently represented by unions, she stated.
Maggie Carter, a unionized barista working at a store in Knoxville, Tennessee, tells Bon Appétit that she’s still uncertain about the availability of the new benefit. Starbucks announced an intention to add the benefit in May, and Carter asked a manager a month ago about it. “I’m waiting on an answer,” she says.
Carter thinks Starbucks’ muddy communication, despite her requests for clarification, is an attempt to confuse and intimidate employees wanting to unionize. Whether the abortion-access benefit is available to unionized stores or not, “this shows what Starbucks is willing to leverage in this fight,” Carter says. “It makes me feel disgusted that they’d dangle abortion over people’s heads as if it’s a cat toy, when women are literally losing their rights to bodily autonomy. It just feels dystopian.”
When Bon Appétit reached out for comment, a Starbucks spokesperson said the abortion benefit is available to all employees: “Because this is an expansion of existing benefits, if you are a Starbucks partner with Starbucks health care benefits, the travel expense cost for these kinds of medical procedures is covered, regardless of union status.” The company did not address questions about other allegations, such as intimidating workers who are unionizing.
Still, if this updated benefit is available to all insured Starbucks workers, the company should make that clear to the unionized employees like Carter who are actively seeking that information, says Rebecca Givan, PhD, an associate professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “I think they’re trying to burnish their progressive reputation, while scaring their employees away from unionizing by suggesting that none of their benefits are secure,” says Givan, who is not involved in the Starbucks unionization process.
So, what’s been happening with Starbucks’ unionization wars? Why is abortion a part of them now? And what, according to a labor expert, might happen next? Here’s everything you need to know about the situation.
- Why are Starbucks employees unionizing?
- How is Starbucks responding?
- What’s next for Starbucks employees who are organizing?
Why are Starbucks employees unionizing?
During the pandemic, Starbucks employees say they endured the stress of becoming frontline workers. Now they’re hoping to use the collective bargaining power that comes with unionization to gain new improvements: higher pay, more hours, better COVID-19 safety precautions, expanded training for new hires, and updates to facilities.
Unionization can be particularly difficult for workers in food and beverage businesses, Givan says. “These are often high turnover jobs, and people don’t necessarily want to do the hard work of organizing if they don’t see themselves staying there for some time,” Givan says.
But Starbucks employees’ movement toward unionization is growing. Since a store in Buffalo became the first to unionize late last year, 171 stores in 30 states have won union elections and workers at 302 locations in 35 states have filed to follow suit.
In its 51 years in business, Starbucks has developed a reputation for being a decent, socially conscious place to work. Starting this summer, the company has said that baristas will earn at least $15 per hour. Employees who qualify have access to health care benefits, which have included some form of gender affirming policies since 2012. And the coffee chain also covers online tuition for college degrees from Arizona State University. But this employee-led unionization push comes at a time when the cost of living continues to outpace wage growth in the U.S. and many young people are burdened by immense levels of student debt.
Carter, a 28-year-old single mother who is currently studying journalism and electronic media at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, says working in the service industry has become untenable. It’s hard to hustle unconditionally for a company while seeing her store’s high profits and knowing that the CEO “makes a salary that would take a barista thousands of years to earn,” she says. Carter has allegedly also witnessed store maintenance and corporate training programs seemingly deteriorate since she started at the company, and says both are contributing to tough working conditions. (Starbucks did not answer questions about this allegation.)
Carter says she joined Starbucks over three years ago because of the company’s progressive policies, just like this new abortion reimbursement. But she also alleges that Starbucks health care—which is required to access the reproductive benefit—is prohibitively expensive for most of the people who work in her store. Medical coverage at the coffee chain is contingent on working 20 hours per week. And premiums are so high that they “would essentially just take away one of your paychecks,” she says. Joining a Starbucks union is her attempt to improve all of this—while keeping the job she loves.
How is Starbucks responding?
Starbucks has been vocal against employee-organizing since unionization efforts began. The coffee chain’s website, “We Are One Starbucks,” lists employee benefits and accuses unions of bullying workers. It suggests that disgruntled employees should speak directly with the company instead of “through a third party across a negotiating table.”
The company has also been accused of using various tactics to discipline workers who choose to unionize, despite allegedly claiming it would bargain with employees in good faith. Baristas in several states have claimed that their managers told them Starbucks’ transgender-inclusive health care benefits could disappear if they join the movement. Seven workers who were recently fired from a Memphis store believe they were let go for participating in union organizing. And one store in Cheektowaga, New York, was closed after unionization efforts—and employees dispatched to other locations—allegedly in order to be used for training purposes.
Carter says she’s also experienced various issues at her store that she believes were retaliatory. After her team filed to unionize, she alleges that corporate employees started “heavily policing” minor infractions, like arriving slightly late and breaking dress codes “that never mattered before.” Carter claims that bosses were also asking questions such as, “Do you trust people to advocate on your behalf when it comes to benefits?”
When Bon Appétit sent questions regarding these allegations to Starbucks, a spokesperson responded that the abortion benefit applies to unionized and non-unionized employees with company-sponsored health insurance. They did not address allegations regarding union busting and intimidation. But in the statement announcing the abortion travel reimbursement, Kelly wrote, “Starbucks will always bargain in good faith.”
Givan, who studies labor movements, says Starbucks is “certainly applying pressure.” She explains that the delayed, uneven confirmation of its abortion-related care for unionized workers is a continuation of the company’s “union-busting” efforts. Thanks to soft labor regulations, Starbucks may not be doing anything illegal, Givan adds. “There’s a tremendous amount they can do and still not break the law,” she says. “And even if they do break the law, the penalties are so minimal that they don’t serve as a deterrent.”
So, what’s next for Starbucks employees who are organizing?
Unionization is in decline in the U.S., and few fruits come with labor organizing efforts. Studies have shown that many unions fail to ever reach a first contract—an agreed-upon set of working conditions between organizers and their unionized employers—often due to companies trying to stall and deter workers from joining. These collective bargaining agreements are the only way to “enshrine” benefits, like health care and abortion access, for unionized workers in the long term, Givan says. Until they are in place for store workers who’ve joined unions, Starbucks’ offers “can be taken away at any time.”
Still, Givan thinks the organizing efforts of Starbucks employees are gaining momentum for a few reasons: unionizing store-by-store means employees work in close quarters and can chat with each other about the effort. It’s easier for organizers to spend time answering questions in a small store with their colleagues than at, say, an Amazon warehouse with thousands of workers. “I think we’ll see organizing happening at more stores and potentially more strikes—as we’ve been seeing at various locations,” Givan says.
In Knoxville, despite the corporate battle ahead, Carter is confident she and her colleagues will eventually win the working conditions she believes they deserve. She also acknowledges that this worker-led push to unionize is bigger than Starbucks. “It's well past time workers stand up and unite against this corporate American greed and inequality that has gone on for far too long,” Carter says. “My fight is about Starbucks right now, but this is also about protecting the working class.”