The unionized staff supporting the national organizing campaign of Starbucks workers recently ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with The NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia. Union staff at Workers United first launched their union effort earlier this year.
The organizing effort at Starbucks has exploded with 11,000 baristas unionizing at more than 570 stores since December 2021.
The two agreements cover two different groups of workers, the Starbucks Workers United staff and the Workers United staff under the New York-New Jersey Joint Board at Workers United, which is part of the Service Employees International Union.
The Starbucks Workers United staff contract includes strong job protection language that includes five steps for progressive discipline. It also includes higher pay for workers living in more expensive areas, protections from artificial intelligence, 15 holidays, premium-free healthcare coverage for workers and support for workers who are immigrants.
“We’re proud to have landed such a strong contract, it enables us to keep fighting alongside our members with the support and working conditions we need,” said Molly Daniels, Lead Organizer at Workers United.
The agreement with the Workers United New York-New Jersey Board includes strong job protections, professional development support, successorship language which is rare for staff union contracts, recall rights and annual wage increases of 4%, 3% and 3% for the respective years of the three-year deal.
“While I’m relatively new to the Joint Board, I have firsthand experience with just how transformative a strong union contract can be. I’m beyond thrilled for myself and my colleagues, who fought just as hard for our staff union contract as they do for the shops we represent,” said Libby Torres, unit chair for the staff at the Workers United New York–New Jersey Joint Board.