It was another big year for organizing in the coffee industry. The Starbucks union drive had been defined by the company’s hostile response to union workers, but in early 2024, organizers made a breakthrough. The union worked with Starbucks to establish a “foundational framework” that both sides anticipated would lead to a first collective bargaining agreement before the end of the year.
More stores unionized this year, but as bargaining momentum stalled Starbucks Workers United staged a nationwide walkout in December. The group dubbed it “The Strike Before Christmas.” Workers shut down hundreds of stores in dozens of cities around the country in response to what the union said was Starbucks’ backtracking on its promise to agree to the foundational framework.
“We’re fighting for a living wage, fair scheduling, and accessible benefits at a time when Starbucks seems to prefer investing in CEO Brian Niccol’s $113 million compensation package,” the union wrote on Instagram.
While the union drive at Starbucks made headway, at other companies workers also organized for better pay and conditions—albeit with mixed success. Employees at two Philly coffee companies pushed for union recognition: At Bluestone Lane, workers voted in favor of unionizing; at OCF Coffee House, the owner responded to a union drive by closing all three locations. Despite unionizing back in 2022, workers at Ultimo Coffee struggled to agree to a contract with management, leading to boycotts, a strike, and two of the four cafes filing to decertify their union. The two remaining locations eventually agreed to a contract in March.
Staying on the East Coast, workers at five Boston-area Blue Bottle Coffee locations voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing, while in Washington, D.C., workers at seven Compass Coffee locations filed to unionize.
However, Compass Coffee workers faced aggressive pushback from the company. Compass hired 124 new workers right before the union vote, including friends of upper management and a lobbyist for Uber, which the union alleged was an attempt to dilute workers’ votes. Eventually, an election took place in July, which was itself contentious, with more than 100 challenged ballots. As of this writing, we still don’t know the state of the election, but Compass management continues to face allegations of retaliating against union workers.
Despite this, several smooth and successful union drives showed that there is another way. In September, Louisville-based Quills Coffee voluntarily recognized its workers’ union petition. In May, staff at Coffee By Design in Portland, Maine, signed a contract just seven months after its owner recognized the union. Going even further, the owner of Bichota Coffee in Minneapolis decided to support its workers’ union before the cafe actually opened.
