The Virginia Worker

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As Starbucks workers launch their Red Cup Rebellion strike action nationwide we sat down with worker organizers at the Ashbrook Marketplace location in Ashburn, Virginia on the course of their militant struggle over the past two years

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The Virginia Worker: When did your store unionize?

Starbucks Workers United: We filed November 1st 2022, voted “yes” December 9th. 

VW: How many workers are there at your store?

SBXWU: It fluctuates. When we voted we had 15 to 16 workers.

VW: How many workers voted “yes” for the union vs “no”?

SBXWU: We knew there would be 5 “no” votes. We had 11 or 12 yes votes. It was pretty solid.

VW: Prior to the campaign did any of you go to labor organizer trainings or did you just see what other Starbucks unionized stores were doing and followed suit?

SBXWU: There was a good group of coworkers who seemed interested. We all saw stuff online and reached out to Starbucks Workers United online to see how they could help us, but no prior trainings. It took a new manager not doing a good job to motive us to do this.

VW: So was the bad manager the impetus for unionizing?

SBXWU: The workplace became toxic once a new manager came in and that helped us win more coworkers over to the union campaign.

VW: Why do you think there were 5 workers who voted “no”?

SBXWU: One worker didn’t understand union dues. We tried to educate workers on it, but the view they had in their head wasn’t going to change no matter what. Two workers really loved to follow the rules set by Starbucks and unionizing would be going against that in their minds.

We tried to show the internal channels provided by Starbucks were not sufficient. We had one Chinese immigrant worker who didn’t understand US labor law and seemed to value hierarchy. There was also a daughter of a manager who did what her manager mom told her to.

VW: Were they doing captive audience meetings?

SBXWU: Not captive audience, but a lot of misinformation and posters put up all over the store. One manager was giving a spiel to make workers concerned about losing their benefits.

We had a district manager come in as well after being absent before we filed for a union election. She would tell us how she could help us if we didn’t unionize. They didn’t care about our issues until we filed to unionize. After we unionized the district manager disappeared again and won’t come to our store anymore.

VW: Were there any unfair labor practices during the union campaign?

SBXWU: We put up posters and they were taken down immediately. We used to be allowed to go into the backroom as needed, but once we started to put up pro-union material they changed that rule.

There was never a strict rule before on what we could put on the community board and that all changed once we did the union campaign. They tried to target workers they thought were weak and convince them to be against the union.

VW: How many unionized Starbucks stores are in northern Virignia?

SBXWU: One in Leesburg, one in Alexandria, Arlington, Sterling and us. We do have a discord chat to communicate between union stores in our area. We haven’t had a regional strike with all these stores, but we aspire to be more coordinated.

One trend we noticed across these stores is that union workers who were trainers were no longer allowed to be trainers anymore. We also saw other union workers at other stores being fired for similar reasons as us. 

VW: Were ULPs filed over these wrongful terminations?

SBXWU: Yes, these cases are still pending through the NLRB. One worker was fired for being late, yet all workers have been late and never disciplined for it. This worker never even had prior disciplinary actions and they went straight to firing her.

There is selective enforcement going on with their company policies. Managers have done the same things they have fired workers for, but no actions taken against them.

VW: Have they changed their policy on disciplinary actions since unionizing or is it still the same?

SBXWU: They haven’t changed it, they just have been more strict in enforcing the policies.

VW: How much language has been used to emphasize you all are a “team” or “family”?

SBXWU: They still say it, but constantly say they can’t fix issues because of the union. We have had issues to prove we aren’t a family, such as family emergencies and sick pay available to cover that and they refuse to let us use our sick pay.

Another example was the death of family members for workers and management trying to deny excused absences, asking us “how close were we?” to our dead family members. They’ve allowed workers accused of sexual harassment to work with their victim coworkers and even tried to send that those victim coworkers home for complaining about having to work beside them.

We’ve had some coworkers use racial slurs to other coworkers and management wouldn’t do anything about it. With our old manager, before we unionized, they were more responsive to this issue, but since we unionized they’ve done nothing. 

VW: It sounds like a very dysfunctional family. How much of this process has revealed how hollow Starbucks’ progressive values are?

SBXWU: A lot. The company has shown their humanitarian values are empty and that it’s just propaganda. For instance, they support Zionist organizations. They haven’t supported LGBTQ workers. We only have the benefits we do because of prior organizing attempts.

VW: Yes, through the IWW Starbucks organizing campaign. How is the contract negotiation process going? How involved are you in that process?

SBXWU: The line in the sand is hybrid bargaining. The company won’t negotiate if it requires zoom calls. The union won’t back down from having zoom calls with in-person negotiations. They have had regional bargaining. The company is arguing for each store to have its own contract. A lot of our coworkers have good ideas for a contract and we communicate on that through group chats.

VW: So the Teamsters and UAW have master contracts for all companies in their industries. Is that the goal with Starbucks Workers United?

SBXWU: It depends who you ask in the union. We think there should be a master contract, but Starbucks wants it to be specific to each unionized store. 

VW: Do you think Workers United is representing the demands of what Starbucks workers want?

SBXWU: There have been workers allowed to attend these planning sessions with Workers United staff. With any union the rank and file and staff have friction. We think we have had a good response to getting our voices heard by Workers United staff. Despite the friction we are aware of there’s a lot of opportunities to get involved and have our voices heard.

VW: What do you think it’s going to take to actually get a contract?

SBXWU: There are people who are going to wait for the court system to do its thing and then there’s our store who want to take direct action and put pressure on Starbucks. It’s going to take us taking more action to force them to the table.

VW: Do you have faith in the legal system?

SBXWU: Direct action is the way to go. The legal system is slow. 

VW: You have had several strike actions at your store since you filed for unionization. How many have there been?

SBXWU: We had to make a timeline to actually figure that out, there have been so many. There have been five or six. Our union rep has praised us for being so gung ho. They didn’t expect Virginia stores to be like this. 

VW: How many workers have participated in strike actions at your store?

SBXWU: 15 people are usually scheduled per day, we usually get 90% of those people to respect our strikes. If we can offer strike pay participation remains high. 

VW: How much is Starbucks losing from these strikes?

SBXWU: One day of business brings in a good chunk of money. We used to be the busiest store in the area because we were the first with a drive thru. We get a lot of delivery orders and other workers from regional stores always comment on how busy we are compared to their stores. As we strike it throws off the sales forecasting and Starbucks then reduces our payroll the following week. 

VW: How many workers at your store are union members?

SBXWU: Anyone who works at our store are considered union members. 

VW: Are workers paying dues to Workers United?

SBXWU: No one is paying dues until we have a contract. 

VW: You mentioned there was a strike fund, does Workers United provide that or did you fundraise yourselves?

SBXWU: Workers United provided a strike fund. Right now Workers United has put a hold on that. We have a harder time getting strike participation without it. We have started a gofundme for our own strike fund when Workers United cuts their funds off.

VW: What was the last strike about?

SBXWU: There was a wrongful termination of a veteran worker. She was probably the best worker at our store. She held the store together, she sacrificed a lot, commuting an hour from West Virginia, opening the store, and upholding high standards. She kept the store functioning.

It was an intimidation tactic by Starbucks. We also think the firing was discriminatory as she was the only Black woman shift supervisor. We had a lot of customers rally to her support, they’ve given bad reviews of the store because of it, and contributed to her fundraiser. Customers keep asking for updates on her case. 

VW: Do you feel community support is a crucial part of your efforts?

SBXWU: It would be a major influence on developing our campaigns if we can build stronger ties with the customer base. When customers have confronted management about the wrongful termination management lies as to who is to blame for it. Organized labor has come out to support us. Teamster members, SEIU members, they give us moral support and aid.

VW: How important is solidarity and the union movement to your success?

SBXWU: Everyone needs to unionize. It’s something to protect workers and give power to workers. You don’t have to have a bad job to unionize. 

VW: How do you think worker power is built across industries in Virginia?

SBXWU: When people have a sense of solidarity and shared awareness on similar work conditions across industries. Teaching about unions and why it’s important is needed. We need to get more involved politically. 

VW: Do you think the Democrat Party actually represents the working class?

SBXWU: There are a lot of factors. The two-party system kind of forces us into the Democrats, unless you have an independent base. They voice support for unions, but don’t actually do much for them. Democrats aren’t doing much for us. We are forced to pick the “lesser of two evils”. We don’t like the two party system.