Starbucks Baristas: The daily grind
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Transferring (Venti Vent) (self.starbucksbaristas)
submitted by Darcie_Autham
Hi peeps,
I’ve been in limbo since mid-July about getting back to work… 3 things happened all at once to put me in this situation.
First, I had surgery last month, so I had to put in a leave of absence thru Sedgwick… dealing with them is so fun! /s
My original back-to-work date was August 1st…
But my store was decommissioned (it was one of the 16 everyone heard about). So I was told to put in for a transfer.
I am moving to a new area altogether.
I gave my SM and DM 3 locations to pick from since I’d be happy to work at any one of them.
But the only one that had a clear opening was one that just voted to unionize.
My manager warned me about the implications of joining a unionized store (as any SB manager would do).
I’m conflicted. The status of the store represents a lot of unknowns to me.
I just want to put it out there that in general I support unions. I’ve worked two union jobs before (food retail and weather service related).
It’s quite possible that my old manager was fear-mongering – I was told that if I accepted the role, it would take months to get a contract, my benefits could go away… and if I wanted to transfer to a non-union store, I’d have to quit and then reapply as a “former” partner rather then just apply for a transfer like normal.
Can anyone speak to this? Any one at a unionized store especially? Thanks!
I’ve been in limbo since mid-July about getting back to work… 3 things happened all at once to put me in this situation.
First, I had surgery last month, so I had to put in a leave of absence thru Sedgwick… dealing with them is so fun! /s
My original back-to-work date was August 1st…
But my store was decommissioned (it was one of the 16 everyone heard about). So I was told to put in for a transfer.
I am moving to a new area altogether.
I gave my SM and DM 3 locations to pick from since I’d be happy to work at any one of them.
But the only one that had a clear opening was one that just voted to unionize.
My manager warned me about the implications of joining a unionized store (as any SB manager would do).
I’m conflicted. The status of the store represents a lot of unknowns to me.
I just want to put it out there that in general I support unions. I’ve worked two union jobs before (food retail and weather service related).
It’s quite possible that my old manager was fear-mongering – I was told that if I accepted the role, it would take months to get a contract, my benefits could go away… and if I wanted to transfer to a non-union store, I’d have to quit and then reapply as a “former” partner rather then just apply for a transfer like normal.
Can anyone speak to this? Any one at a unionized store especially? Thanks!
celloqueer 2 points 11m ago
Full disclosure, my store is not currently unionized, but even without that personal experience I know enough to know that’s fearmongering.
-“it’ll take months to get a contract” yeah that much is probably true bc negotiations take a long time, but in the meantime you’re operating under the default conditions like where you have been working.
-“benefits could go away” this is one of the #1 things Starbies higher ups are fearmongering about to create uncertainty about. In theory your store could choose to trade X benefit for whatever, but the union is the workers, and if you were to be one of the workers at that location you would get a say in that negotiation. “The union” isn’t a third party that’s going to randomly be like screw you you lose this thing. You get to be in it and advocate for keeping the shit that’s important to you. And additionally if Starbies tried to stick it to y’all and withdraw benefits for that store as a random screw you, they can get sued, and so far Starbies hasn’t been faring well when people go at them over the union related labor violations.
-re: transfers this is a bit of a relative unknown bc unions are new, but even if you would have to do that, former partners get hired back all the time assuming there wasn’t bad blood with them and their manager resulting in weird stuff in their file.
IMO those issues shouldn’t keep you from working at that store if you otherwise feel good about it.
-“it’ll take months to get a contract” yeah that much is probably true bc negotiations take a long time, but in the meantime you’re operating under the default conditions like where you have been working.
-“benefits could go away” this is one of the #1 things Starbies higher ups are fearmongering about to create uncertainty about. In theory your store could choose to trade X benefit for whatever, but the union is the workers, and if you were to be one of the workers at that location you would get a say in that negotiation. “The union” isn’t a third party that’s going to randomly be like screw you you lose this thing. You get to be in it and advocate for keeping the shit that’s important to you. And additionally if Starbies tried to stick it to y’all and withdraw benefits for that store as a random screw you, they can get sued, and so far Starbies hasn’t been faring well when people go at them over the union related labor violations.
-re: transfers this is a bit of a relative unknown bc unions are new, but even if you would have to do that, former partners get hired back all the time assuming there wasn’t bad blood with them and their manager resulting in weird stuff in their file.
IMO those issues shouldn’t keep you from working at that store if you otherwise feel good about it.
Darcie_Autham [OP] 1 points 11m ago
Thank you! I’m not the only one who can see through the BS. It’s only scary because it’s so new so it’s unfamiliar.
fuwaldah 2 points 11m ago
> Can anyone speak to this?
No. At this point, little is known about what will be in the contracts or how Starbucks will handle (or be able to handle) transfers. I also in general support most unions. This might be unpopular to say, but this union is no like most unions. Starbucks has behaved abominably, but my experience with the union so far has been pretty abominable as well.
No. At this point, little is known about what will be in the contracts or how Starbucks will handle (or be able to handle) transfers. I also in general support most unions. This might be unpopular to say, but this union is no like most unions. Starbucks has behaved abominably, but my experience with the union so far has been pretty abominable as well.
Darcie_Autham [OP] 1 points 11m ago
“My experience with the union has been abominable as well”
Are you referring to Starbucks Workers United? What about them is abominable?
Are you referring to Starbucks Workers United? What about them is abominable?
fuwaldah 1 points 11m ago
I believe I am. I am referring to whoever has been active in the stores I've worked with.
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