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**DECEMBER 13, 2021**
Kuttner on TAP
The Path to Unionization of Starbucks
Why this image-conscious company is more vulnerable than your typical
fast-food joint
As you've heard, a Starbucks in Buffalo won union certification from
the NLRB last Thursday. On Friday, my colleague and dear friend Harold
Meyerson threw some cold coffee
on the victory, pointing out that this is just one Starbucks unit out of
more than 15,000, and that union successes in small fast-food places are
close to nil.
It pains me to disagree with Harold, who is a source of great insight on
all things labor, but I think he is being unduly and
uncharacteristically pessimistic in his analysis. I will bet Harold a
double caramel macchiato at the Starbucks of his choice that at least
100 Starbucks are unionized by this time next year.
The reason is that Starbucks is not your typical fast-food operation.
For starters, unlike most of the industry, Starbucks stores are not
franchises. They are owned and operated by the Starbucks Corporation.
For another, Starbucks is not just selling coffee; it is selling an
image and an experience-of a cool, socially benign company, one that
features hip baristas and pays attention to humane details like
fair-traded coffee and the workers who grow it.
In short, Starbucks has to worry about what they call reputational
damage if it becomes known as a union-buster. It is thus a sitting duck
for customer pressure.
To be specific, consumers could threaten a boycott unless Starbucks
agreed to stay scrupulously neutral in unionization drives elsewhere, as
other Starbucks workers seek to emulate their sisters and brothers in
Buffalo. Sign the pledge, or we start buying our coffee at Dunkin'
Donuts, where the stuff is cheaper, less pretentious, and just as
drinkable.
Starbucks did resort to the usual union-avoidance tactics in Buffalo.
But Starbucks looks like hell if it persists with union-busting as this
drive turns into a national movement.
Readers may recall the successful campaign of the tomato workers in
Immokalee, Florida. They were able to get raises because consumers put
pressure on the fast-food chains that purchased the tomatoes, beginning
with Taco Bell
.
If Taco Bell was vulnerable, Starbucks is doubly vulnerable. I hope
Harold gets properly caffeinated and keeps reporting on this story as
unionization gains ground(s).
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter
Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.
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