personally, I'm Switzerland. for now. partially because I don't really understand what a union is and what it does. I want pros and cons. I don't want to just hear all the corporate anti-union propaganda, and also only the partners who are in the boat of "x shitty thing and y shitty thing will change if only we unionize!!1!!" but that's all I hear.
I want unbiased information on it before I have an opinion.

This is more of a general stream of consciousness comment regarding unions, but I try to cover both sides here from my own standpoint….here we go…

I’m generally a pro-union person. I grew up in a union household and if it weren’t for my father’s Union job I’m not sure how my family would’ve made it through the post-9/11, 2008 and COVID crises (my father worked in an industry that was highly heavily affected by each), so I truly understand and respect all the good that unions do.

With that being said, a lot of the problems with Sbux stem not from the corporate culture per se, but from lower-level mismanagement. Most of the reasons why the unionization movement began stem from states’ and counties’ anti-COVID measures and Sbux’s inability to properly balance not breaking anti-mask/vaccine laws and Sbux’s own pro-mask, pro-vaccine culture. Remember, Sbux took phenomenal care of us when COVID first hit that April/May. It was the reopening that screwed most partners over, and, more specifically, SMs’ and DMs’ unwillingness to assist partners with schedule problems, especially unexpected store closures.

What’s more, a lot of the abuse that partners complain about is just…working a public service job. Every one of my partners that worked in traditional fast food (Popeye’s, Burger King, McDonalds, etc…) have all said that customers were so much worse there than at Sbux. So, I’m not really sure what a union can do about that.

Lastly, Sbux gives partners a wide range to deal with unruly customers and partners (including SMs) thanks to its broad “3rd Place Policy.” Properly using Incident Reports and filing complaints with Ethics and Compliance would probably help solve a lot of the mid-level mismanagement that partners face and help expose corporate to our world.

With that being said, the direction they Sbux has taken in the last few years is absolutely negative. They’re trying to be both a swanky local coffee shop and a McDonalds-style fast food chain, and that’s just not working. Focusing on drive thru times, customer connection scores while understaffing stores and doing next to nothing for training, and having DMs micromanage how stores are set up and how SSVs run their shifts doesn’t create a climate where we can nurture the human spirit one cup at a time. A union would undoubtedly bridge the cultural gap between what corporate thinks is happening and what partners actually deal with.

Because I'm happy with my pay, benefits, and store culture as is. I understand not all partners are though, and I understand why some might want to unionize.

(I don't have a position, just stating some comments.)

Some unionized workplaces do seniority based scheduling and time off, which can be hard for newer baristas.

I was on average a high performing barista, so if merit based wage increases were still a thing, that would discourage me from unionizing. The same went for scheduling and time off, my SM was generally pretty accomodating to me.

That being said, I hear the other side, as a brand new barista, I remember one of my fellow partners being less than happy that I made similar money to her.

I’m personally not anti-union and I think the blatant union busting starbucks is participating in is disgusting. that said I don’t want my store to unionize, I like my manager and I think unionizing hurts the relationship between manager and employees, by relationship I mean the ability to casually talk and have fun while working. but I do have a coworker who doesn’t really understand why baristas are unionizing and their thought process is that the benefits we already get are pretty unprecedented in this field and are amazing.

Personally I'm waiting to see how negotiations at currently unionized stores go. Badly negotiated contracts could end up doing more harm than good. Case and point, the Candian unionized store where baristas make less than non unionized stores in the area.

If nothing else, I appreciate the union pushes because it's forced the company to actually pay attention to issues. Even if it's all for show, we're getting sit downs with upper management who're FORCED to listen to our issues. And at least in my district, they're making genuine efforts to deal with them. We've had ongoing maintenance issues addressed, scheduling issues dealt with, and we should be getting another freezer, AND more frequent orders. It might be happening because they're scared, but it's HAPPENING, so I'm not gonna complain.

Again though, I'm not anti union. I'm just pro wait and see lmao.

I’m not anti-union in general, but I don’t think that unions are always as beneficial as they seem, especially in many Starbucks stores. I am from the market where unionizing first started, and since then most stores in my district are unionized. I can honestly say that conditions have gotten significantly worse since then. In particular, the manager-barista relationship has suffered significantly. I see a good relationship/rapport/trust in a manager as a highly underrated but invaluable aspect to a workplace, and it isn’t a benefit that can be negotiated. It is cultivated through store culture and leadership. The whole union process, above all, has killed that for my store and many others. Again, I think that unions have their place in the world, but for stores that trust their managers, are happy with their benefits, and work in well-run stores, unions would likely have a lot of unintended negative side effects. In many markets, managers still have a lot of flexibility to manage the way they see fit. In my market, managers have to follow the book by the letter because 1) corporate has begun to micromanage my market in particular due to unionizing and 2) union contracts demand it. It’s just not for me, in this line of work.

Tldr: union outcome is still unknown - show me a contract that exists, then maybe.

Not anti union just not pro union. No store has a contract yet and are facing retaliation. That is terrifying.
When you have everything in life planned out with your current situation the unknown isn't a risk I wanna take. I have debt, a mortgage, a partner, two cats; essentially my whole life balanced out based on how much me and my partner bring in per month.
At least with current Starbucks I'm alright with my pay and happy with my benefits, it's the devil I know vs. the devil I don't. With a union currently nothing is guaranteed it's all negotiable.
Show me an existing contract that both store and Starbucks agreed to and are upholding and I would likely reconsider but currently the pro union people in my store don't super understand that other people have lives they aren't ready to put on the line.
I need my job as it is or better. Not worse or gone.

before starbucks, i worked for my family business and that job was terrible. 10.5-11 hour shifts, barely any breaks, and constantly harassed by customers and yelled at. management would take the customers’ side and do everything to please them at the stake of my mental health. i actually love starbucks, i think being able to get breaks is nice, i love the benefits, my partners, and my managers

For me I just haven’t seen a reason to do so at my store. I love my manager, the few times I’ve met my DM he seemed like a good guy, my partners are all pretty cool. Some customers can suck, but honestly most of what I’ve gone through is just from being in a public service field. They can’t yell at corporate about the outages, so they yell at us. That doesn’t make it right, but a union isn’t going to stop that. I’m sure other stores have had worse circumstances, like I just read about one group being told to go in during a flash flood. In that case if they want to unionize, sure go ahead. In my case though I haven’t seen problems at my store that would be fixed by a Union, and so why would I want to pay dues (despite how small they may be) for a union when I don’t feel like it would change anything?

And I’m not anti-union per se, my Dad was a plumber and he worked for the union for many years, probably right out of trade school around the time he met my Mom to sometime around the 2010s, and the unions were helpful for him. And I hope that the stores that have unions currently are in better treatment. I guess I’m more of a I don’t see the need for it in my circumstance, but if other stores want to do it, go ahead. If a vote were to come up at my store, I’d make my decision then, but like others have said I would really just want to hear more of a pros & cons, hear from baristas at unionized stores how it has helped and/or changed the environment, etc.

My store spoke of union dues/fees recently. That was the only anti-union talk I’ve heard so far.

I would vote for unionizing, because I’ve worked for a union before. Job security alone is why I would vote yes. Guaranteed pay increases, instead of hoping the company will get it together. That’s another one.

I, personally, don’t want to be a union member. We would have to give a significant portion of our paychecks to said union. It will take years to actually get any changes made, and if we unionize, there will be no choice in whether or not we can be members- we will HAVE to be. I see the big picture, but I’m just not union material…..

I’m not for or against because I’ve worked as a barista and at corporate but one of my close friends is anti union. She is afraid her benefits (especially asu) would be negotiated away for something else