Blue Bottle Independent Union

Will certainly be interesting to see how much Starbucks store closures overlap with unionized stores.

☕️ At Coffee Watch, we’re adding our voice: we draw the line on labour exploitation and environmental destruction in the coffee industry. Every cup of coffee should uphold dignity, fair pay, and a healthy planet.

drawtheline.world #DrawTheLine

Teamsters, Republic Services reach deal to end marathon trash strike - The Boston Globe The deal is expected to restore trash and recycling services as soon as next week, according to Malden officials.

The Teamsters Local 25 union and waste management company Republic Services agreed to a contract, ending a monthslong worker strike and negotiation, according to the City of Malden.

To: Brian Niccol, Starbucks CEO Starbucks is an iconic American company. Your stores are ubiquitous and beloved by many. Your brand has the opportunity to bring people together, but right now, a cloud is hanging over Starbucks as you have yet to finalize a first union contract with baristas. We are writing to impress upon you the importance of making peace with the baristas who make the Starbucks experience what it is and working together with them to finalize fair union contracts. Baristas take the orders, make the drinks, clean the spills, and forge relationships with their customers, including many of us. We, the undersigned, have watched as baristas from Buffalo to Seattle and everywhere in between ignited a nationwide movement to demand fair treatment at work. It’s been 4 years since Starbucks baristas in Buffalo, N.Y. began to organize their store. Starbucks Workers United is now 12,000 union baristas strong—and growing. Our organizations represent over 85 million people across the U.S. and beyond. We have been proud to support Starbucks baristas in their campaign to improve your company, which has implications for all of us. We were encouraged when Starbucks agreed on a path forward with Workers United in February 2024 and frustrated when you backed away from that commitment ten months later. We’re invested in union baristas’ success. We are committed to supporting their demand for a fair contract that helps make jobs at Starbucks better, which will, in turn, improve all of our communities where you operate. We will continue to back union workers’ fight, including by not crossing barista picket lines at Starbucks if they feel striking is necessary. We may even join them on the picket line if progress toward a fair contract isn’t being made. When working people do better, we all do better. It’s time to move forward. That means finalizing fair contracts that show union baristas how you value their contributions to your multi-billion dollar company.

Signed, A Legacy of Equality Leadership and Organizing American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) American Federation of Teachers (AFT) American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO Association of Flight Attendants-CWA Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) Coffee Watch DemCast USA Democratic Socialists of America DSA Labor Gen-Z for Change Get Free Green America Greenpeace USA International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) Jobs with Justice Labor Heritage Foundation Lead Locally League of Conservation Voters Mayday Strong MoveOn National Education Association (NEA) National Employment Law Project Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Our Revolution Peace Action People’s Action Institute PowerSwitch Action Presente.org Pride At Work Public Citizen Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Sports Solidarity Students for International Labor Solidarity Sunrise Movement The Labor Force Third Act Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community United Farm Workers (UFW) United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) OUTreach United Steelworkers (USW) Women's March Working Families Party Working Partnerships USA Young Democratic Socialists of America

NEW: 45+ major organizations sent a letter to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol urging the company to finalize fair union contracts.

"We will continue to back union workers’ fight, including by not crossing barista picket lines at Starbucks if they feel striking is necessary." 🔥🔥

You don't hate the rich nearly enough.

Solidarity to our friends in Boston SBWU!! Congrats on showing Brian Niccol that baristas won’t be dissuaded by union busting 🏴☕️

At Octane Coffee, Robots Brew, Data Drives the Line and Automation Halves Labor While Doubling Speed Unlike many companies that introduce automation in piecemeal fashion — think kiosks to replace order-takers — Octane Coffee was designed from day one to eliminate all human labor from the customer-facing process.

At least most coffee brands have the sense to couch their automation-boosting in terms of "it gives workers more time to focus on customer service" (which is also bullshit), but Octane Coffee is just mask-off about replacing workers with robots - including the customer service bit. Bodes ill!

“Starbucks Is on the Ropes,” Says SBWU President Lynne Fox, Who Is Eyeing a Strike "Investors should know that if Starbucks continues to stonewall and fight with union baristas, they aren’t afraid to do what it takes to win the fair contract that they’ve earned," Fox writes. "This i...

“Starbucks is on the ropes,” writes @sbworkersunited.org President Lynne Fox.

Baristas are prepared to strike if needed to win a fair contract.

Wanna help me reach my goal? [September Subscription Drive] This month, I’m working alongside over 30 other indie creators to make their own work sustainable through reader funding. Will you help me reach my goal?

Asking for funding is a wildly uncomfortable experience but we gotta do it: this newsletter is reader-funded, and I've got some goals I need your help to accomplish. This month, I'm hoping to reach 50 paid subs to the newsletter.

If I reach 1000 by end of 2026, I'll fly to you and fight your boss👊

A Fair Slice | Becca Young Unionizing at Brooklyn’s Barboncino was the easy part—then came the negotiations

When the workers care more about the business than the owners.
"What no one prepared us for, though, was that the logic that we followed—we want the business to succeed; we need our jobs to make money—didn’t apply to ownership."
thebaffler.com/latest/a-fai...

Pictured is a field of white with text and a picture. The text is on the left side and reads "Employer: Verve Coffee Roasters; Unit Size: 48 Across 3 stores; Filed: September 2, 2025; Location: San Francisco and Santa Cruz; Industry/positions: Restaurant/Coffee. Baristas and shift leads; Local: UFCW Local 5;" On the bottom there is text that reads "Made by @UnionsElections; @unionelections.bsky.social. Logo property of UFCW" On the right side is the logo of UFCW.

NEW: 48 baristas for local coffee chain Verve Roasters in SF and Santa Cruz are unionizing with UFCW local 5.

Verve is apparently under investigation by the city of San Francisco for allegedly violating its Health Care Security Ordinance

Working Class Hero of the Week: Lucy Parsons - Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee A look back on the life of Lucy Parsons, whose life was committed to advancing the struggle of the working class

Solidarity Union History: Lucy Parsons and the Haymarket Affair

workerorganizing.org/working-clas...

Another labor movement is possible

Baristas and librarians alike yearn for inquiry into their working conditions

Tyrannosaurus electrocuting a stegosaurus (i.e., filing a grievance)

having a union means you get to do this to your boss

Starbucks Throttles Operations at US Coffee Plants to Curb Costs The Starbucks Corp. plants that roast and package the company’s coffee beans in the US are cutting two days of weekly production as part of management’s efforts to cut costs.

Starbucks: We must cut costs to fund our turnaround plan. Below-inflation raises or layoffs for corporate workers, and now reduced roasting operations (which, presumably, also means job losses).

Also Starbucks: We paid our CEO $96m for 4 months work, and will give executives $6m for hitting targets

How One Teamsters Local Is Striking to Protect Immigrant Workers The union wants bosses to turn away immigration authorities unless they show a signed judicial warrant, but resistance is fierce.

Nicolas Coronado, who's leading Teamsters 705’s negotiations with Mauser, made an important point. Mauser is being more accommodating to federal immigration authorities than it would likely be to other federal entities, like OSHA. “It’s not likely they’re letting in OSHA without a judicial warrant."

Here's a news story covering Sean's comments & the subsequent retaliation. Judge for yourself, but to me, this is our LA public transit showing how, bit by bit, institutions let fascism take hold. This is a matter of democracy, not just a job. Please share widely: lapublicpress.org/2025/08/la-m...

Guys, I have a special & unusual request today. My cousin Sean is a union bus driver here in Los Angeles who was just FIRED in retaliation for saying he would not let masked ICE agents onto his bus to abduct riders. The fight is on to get his job back, you can help: actionnetwork.org/letters/send...

E73-74: Ben Fletcher Double podcast episode about Ben Fletcher, a very important but little-known dock worker and labour organiser in the US with the Industrial Workers of the World union.

Solidarity Union History: Ben Fletcher

IWW organizer of union branch Local 8, organized thousands of workers on the Philadelphia docks, the most powerful multiracial union in the country at the time. Check out the podcast on his life.
workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e73-...

Much love, solidarity, and admiration for our friends at BBIU on the occasion of this latest victory.

More proof that worker led-and-operated unionism — with a real, active commitment to internationalism — is a winner.

Elon Musk Just Won His War on Labor Unions The Fifth Circuit has done the mogul’s bidding and neutered the National Labor Relations Board, in a move that will likely substantially damage workers’ rights.

This flew by my radar this week, but massively important: the 5th circuit court of appeals ruled that the NLRB’s structure unconstitutional.

It is a huge blow to “American workers who hope to organize their workplaces without fear of retaliation. It represents a partial negation of the New Deal…”

New independent union dropped 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

Unions aren’t just good for workers—they also benefit communities and democracy Rebuilding worker power by strengthening unions is not just good policy—it is a democratic imperative in the face of authoritarian backsliding.

Unions boost wages 🚀

On average, a union worker earns 12.8% more in wages than their nonunionized peers.

But unions don’t just help union workers—they help ALL workers by raising standards.

Read our new report about how unions are good for workers AND communities: www.epi.org/publication/...

Three Crises of Labor "Organize or Die" gets uncomfortably relevant.

Three forces of doom are converging on working class power. On the bright side, the one path out of this is clearly illuminated now.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/three-cris...

Canadian Flight Attendants Defy Back-to-Work Order and Win Tentative Deal on Ground Pay Militancy gets the goods for Canadian flight attendants. What can U.S. unions learn about using disruptive civil disobedience from our neighbors?

lowerfrequencies.substack.com/p/canadian-f...

New U.S. tariffs, including a 50% tariff on Brazilian coffee, are driving up costs for cafés and consumers. A cup that once cost $3 could soon climb to $4.50.

www.npr.org/2025/07/21/n...

Upon learning that promised wage increases would not come through, cafeteria staff, custodians, bus drivers, social workers, and front office workers walked off the job at Durham's public schools in loosely organized wildcats.

NRN article: Starbucks was found to be in violation of more federal labor laws this week. A National Labor Relations Board judge ruled that the coffee chain was essentially threatening employees that voted yes to union representation when it posted letters to several stores warning of wage freezes during contract negotiations in 2022.

Instead of bargaining with our union and achieving TAs toward our contracts, Starbucks is back to getting charged with Unfair Labor Practices!

Tell Starbucks that TAs are better than ULPs. Sign our No Contract No Coffee pledge!

bit.ly/NoContractNoCoffee

How to ‘Act Like a Union’ on a Labor-Management Committee The union should approach every meeting of a Labor-Management Committee with the same mindset that it would bring to contract bargaining, never forgetting that management’s goals and the union’s are d...

Labor Notes Organizer Joe DeManuelle-Hall joined the pod to talk about labor educator Charley Richardson's advice on taking a “continuous bargaining” approach at these meetings, “never forgetting that management’s goals and the union’s are distinct.”: labornotes.org/2014/08/how-... 2/3