A wave of unionization has hit Starbucks stores across America, a major shock to a company previously hailed for its achievements and industry-leading wages.
As unionization has expanded to 216 stores in 30 states, Starbucks has responded with a no-holds-barred approach.
CEO Howard Schultz issued a public letter last week urging workers to oppose “external unions”. And this week, during a weekly virtual meeting question-and-answer session with store managers, he said that if the company ever goes ahead with expanded benefits, it could not extend them to workers in stores who have voted to unionize, per US worker law requiring separate negotiations with those workers over changes related to benefits and wages.
Starbucks union organizers told Fortune they were not surprised by Schultz’s recent comments. And as more Starbucks stores petition for union elections each week, they say the company’s aggressive approach is actually getting people to join their ranks.
“Our support numbers are looking better than before,” said Page Smith, 28, a shift supervisor at a Starbucks Atlanta location. “A lot of the people I work with are very quick to see through the anti-union campaigns.”
“Another Unstoppable Threat”
Smith has worked for Starbucks in a variety of roles and locations since 2017, when she moved to Atlanta after college to pursue college.
On the side, she delivers groceries for InstaCart to make ends meet.
“I’d like to only work at Starbucks,” she says. “I really like my work there.”
Smith says she has been an active union organizer for the past year, helping her colleagues understand the ins and outs of organizing and how collective organizing can contribute to greater stability in the workplace.
Some of her colleagues were ambivalent about joining the union. But as Starbucks continues to hold awareness meetings with employees who oppose unionization, she says the same people have been coming back to her for the past few months to ask for pro-union T-shirts and pins.
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Your location is now considering collecting a fresh round of union badges as more workers have expressed their support after the store initially filed a petition for elections with the NLRB in January.
Workers United, the union that claims to represent Starbucks workers in the US, has filed several complaints of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the company encroached on workers’ rights to organize.
“This is another unwarranted threat from Starbucks,” Workers United said in a statement to Fortune when asked about Schultz’s recent comments. “This movement continues to grow despite Howard Schultz’s threats and bullying.”
Starbucks did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
“What I expected from the company”
Maggie Carter, 28, an organization manager at a Starbucks Knoxville, TN location, told Fortune that she only found out about the company’s unionization after receiving a second raise in a year.
This was not in line with her previous experience at the company, which she joined in early 2019.
“That raise suggests something is going on at the company that I don’t know about and would like to know,” she recalls telling her store manager. That’s when she found out about the union wave.
Carter says the raise taught her to be skeptical of perceived positive moves on the side of Starbucks. She sees Schultz’s recent comments as an attempt to show that the company can improve working conditions without union involvement.
“That’s consistent with what I expected from the company for doing this,” she says. “If you could add these benefits now, we could have had them always. So why is it so important to add them now?”
Carter believes the idea of expanded benefits achieved without collective bargaining might be enough to deter some workers from supporting organizing efforts. But she says it will rather empower workers to demand more.
She doesn’t see the unionizing wave slowing anytime soon, even if Starbucks decides to expand benefits and wages in the future — her own site voted to unionize just last week.
“Overall, the real message being sent is that unionization has already driven change at this company and will continue to do so,” she says.
April 16, 2022: This news item was updated to reflect that Howard Schultz spoke during a question and answer session with store managers about potential new benefits that do not extend to workers in stores that are unionizing.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com