Posted on Dec 9, 2019 2021 at 21:32Updated Dec 10, 2019 2021 at 2:14
They voted “yes”. The employees of the Starbucks of Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo (State of New York) will be the first to create a union within the sign in the United States, which owns some 9,000 points of sale. Gathered under the banner “Starbucks Workers United”, three cafes in the city had filed their request last August. The second voted against the creation of a union, but the result is already disputed. The third voted “for”, but a disagreement on the ballots has yet to be resolved by the administration.
“Today we saw a split vote in two Buffalo stores, with a third result pending,” pointed out a Starbucks spokesperson. “Regardless of the outcome of these elections, we respect the process and we will continue to stay true to our mission and our values.”
The context in which this new symbolic vote took place was much more promising than during the attempt – failed – to establish a union in an Amazon warehouse in Alabama, last April. Buffalo is a “progressive” city, with a unionization rate double that observed at the national level (10.8%) and a more dynamic employment pool.
The pandemic has also greatly strengthened the bargaining power of employees. With a dynamic recovery and employee shortages, the number of resignations is reaching record levels in the country. In October, the number of voluntary departures only started to slow, to 4.2 million (2.8%), according to BLS data. And the hotel and catering industry holds the record for quitting rates, at 6%.
Efforts to deter
The media coverage of the operation and the contrasting results between the three Buffalo outlets, however, illustrate the persistent sensitivity of the subject in the United States, with large companies hostile to unionization, and who fear that a first union establishment will stain. of oil. After the first three coffee shops in Buffalo, three more Starbucks in the city and one in Arizona filed for union formation.
The chain launched its response in late October by announcing an increase in its minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by summer 2022, a move that many fast food chains have already made. Starbucks also promised from January a salary increase of up to 5% for employees with two years of seniority, and up to 10% for those present for at least five years.
Starbucks management had gone to great lengths to dissuade Buffalo workers from unionizing, holding anti-union meetings and bringing in the brand’s historic figure, founder Howard Schulz. Starbucks also wanted to vote together twenty cafes in the area rather than each individually; a request finally rejected by the administration.
Cases of obstruction of unionization are frequent in the United States. Last June, the NLRB, which governs labor relations, had also ruled that Starbucks had retaliated against two “baristas” in Philadelphia. In Alabama, Amazon employees could for their part vote again, following a recommendation from the regulator that the initial procedure was biased.
“The most pro-union president”
The bargaining power of employees is also expressed through a resurgence of strikes in the United States this fall, notably at the tractor manufacturer Deere and the food giant Kellogg’s. The number of striking employees in large companies (more than 1,000 strikers) remains however much lower than in 2018 and 2019, two years which marked a revival of social movements.
Deeming that unions have built the American middle class, Joe Biden vowed to be “the most pro-union president of the most pro-union administration in American history.” However, the measures are difficult to pass through Congress. A bill, PRO-Act, was passed in the House of Representatives to facilitate the establishment of unions in companies, but it is blocked in the Senate.
Joe Biden’s plan to raise the minimum wage level to $ 15 an hour at the federal level has meanwhile been shelved, and that of establishing paid maternity leave is still being negotiated within the Democratic camp itself, without certainty of being adopted.
–
