South Burlington cafe is the 1st Starbucks in Vermont to try to unionize - vtdigger.org

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Out of nearly a dozen locations in Vermont, the cafe on Shelburne Road is the first in the state to formally express an intent to form a union, according to a message from the national union. Photo via Wikimedia.

Workers at a Starbucks in South Burlington are the newest among their fellow baristas nationwide who are trying to unionize — and they’re doing so with a shoutout from Bernie.

Out of nearly a dozen Starbucks stores in Vermont, the cafe at 580 Shelburne Road is the first to file for a union election, a worker who declined to give their name confirmed to VTDigger on Monday.

Starbucks Workers United announced the news on Twitter on Sunday, which was May Day, and got a shoutout from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, on Monday. 

Bernie Sanders speaks in Montpelier in May 2019. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

“I am proud to stand in strong solidarity with Starbucks workers in Burlington who are seeking a vote to form a union. They understand that at a time of record profits, Starbucks can afford to pay decent wages and to treat its workers with dignity,” Sanders wrote in a retweet.

The tweet from Starbucks Workers United included a letter sent by six South Burlington employees to Starbucks founder Howard Schultz.

“At Starbucks we are treated exceptionally well in many ways. Our local and district managers have worked hard to foster a truly special environment here,” they wrote. “However, we are no longer willing to accept working conditions that are only slightly above the exceptionally low bar set by this industry.”

The employees wrote that $15 an hour is “no longer a competitive wage,” and decried the use of “fringe benefits” such as music subscription services.

“$15 an hour doesn’t even cover the minimum, especially as we struggle to survive an ever-worsening housing crisis in our home state of Vermont,” they wrote.

Concerns listed in the letter include new hires being “hastily and improperly” trained; being expected to work more due to understaffing without additional compensation; unstable scheduling; and cutting hours without notice, “making it difficult for us to pay our bills and jeopardizing our ability to qualify for health insurance.”

Workers United, a union affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, did not respond to inquiries Monday afternoon. The worker at the Burlington store on Monday said they are not yet ready to comment.

The South Burlington workers noted in their letter that they love working at Starbucks — a home away from home and a safe place for many — but that they are powerless to address “systemic issues” with the second largest fast food company on earth without organizing.

Workers United recently slammed Schultz for his comments about an improved benefits plan, suggesting they had “an immediate and profound chilling effect on organizing campaigns nationwide,” according to CNBC.

The letter from the South Burlington store notes: “Your aggressive and illegal retaliation against unionizing workers across the country exacerbates our concerns.” But it also states that they want to work collaboratively to “transform Starbucks into a fair and equal workplace” and asks the company to live up to its values.

Unions are fairly new for the multinational coffeehouse chain in America based out of Seattle. After workers at a cafe in Buffalo, New York, unionized early December, several others have followed suit. According to Vox, 17 stores in the U.S. have successfully voted to unionize and about 170 others in about 30 states are expected to vote this year.

There are currently 239 open petitions for unions at Starbucks stores covering 6,346 total workers, according to online data.

The efforts at Starbucks mirror a recent surge of labor efforts across America pushing to ensure better conditions for workers at corporate behemoths like Amazon, Apple, The New York Times and REI.

In Richmond, Virginia, Sanders recently called unionizing Starbucks workers “heroes and heroines” and criticized Schultz’s wealth at an event organized by the Northern Virginia Labor Federation, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

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