to Starbucks cafes in Boston have filed for a union
elections. This comes after last week's historical win for
employees at a Buffalo cafe who voted to form the
first union for baristas who worked at a company owned
location. The two employees in the Starbucks locations in
Boston wrote a letter to CEO Kevin Johnson, reading
in part quote. We see unions as the best
way to make Starbucks a place to have a sustainable
career and true partnership. Joining us now to discuss
as Kasey Fleisher and Jazz Brozak baristas at Starbucks Buffalo
store. Now, guys, thank you so much
for joining me. It will be a question of
whether Starbucks workers will be able to unionize in a
larger city like Boston. So how can we use
your victory at the Buffalo Cafe as a lens to
predict how the Boston effort will play out? Well
, I think really what we are trying to prove
in Buffalo is that it's possible to organize in this
industry and in this company because Starbucks has spent the
past 50 years, non union and in fact anti
union, as we saw with their campaign against us
. Um and we've said all along. We just
have to win one store and get a contract.
And Starbucks flooded us with managers from all over the
country, many of whom were from Boston, then
partners across the country, including in Arizona and Boston
, places where these support managers had been brought in
from reaching out to us. So we're supporting them
in turn, by helping them unionize. Now,
Casey, what exactly are the Starbucks workers at your
store advocating for, um, what we're advocating for
in general is, um, better working conditions better
pay things like seniority pay and more fair working conditions
. Like, um, for example, um,
like, promotions that aren't, um, sorry.
Promotions that are fair and go to people who deserve
them and not based on favoritism and things like that
. Now, jazz the you didn't push, faced
some opposition. Like you said from Starbucks management.
What were some of the opposition that you saw firsthand
? Well, we are one of the few stores
that actually still has our original store manager every other
store besides ours, Um, and the Boston stores
that filed yesterday, I believe for their unions,
out of all of the ones previous, um,
only are still has the original manager. Our store
, even with that said, has been flooded in
with now five additional support managers, um, to
come in, watch what's going on. Spy honest
. Um, we've been pulled into anti union meetings
, texted anti union propaganda. Um told we could
lose our benefits. Howard Schultz, the CEO,
even came at former CEO even came in to make
a speech about how wonderful the benefits were and how
he felt like that was akin to sharing blankets during
the Holocaust and then set up a 12 punch for
the next round of anti union meetings where managers started
talking about how if we voted for the Union,
we could lose all of that. They came into
your store and said that it was like the Holocaust
, like sharing blankets these these benefits for you.
Okay, Um, yeah. So Howard Schultz essentially
said that, um, during the Holocaust they promote
, they provided blankets, and each person was expected
to share their blanket with five other people. Um
, and that Starbucks benefits were like that that we
needed to share with our other people and be grateful
for what we had essentially because it might next go
to someone else instead. So, Cassie, what
is this potential Boston Union? What you mentioned what
you wanted to change your story. What do they
want to change at their store? Is it something
that is similar to your reasons, or is it
something completely different? I believe that it's similar to
our situation. Um, there they also want essentially
, we want the same across all stores. Um
, we want to make sure that everyone has better
pay and better working conditions. Um, and we
want to make sure that everyone has the access to
the same experience and that it's the best experience that
they can have now, when it comes to,
If you can't unionize is striking. Is something that
you've been discussing. Is there other actions you guys
are willing to take? Well, I think we're
still hoping that Starbucks will cave as more and more
customers are expressing support for the union and pledging to
become Starbucks customers as more locations become unionized. Um
, we're hoping that they will come to the bargaining
table, but I think that the public is ready
to hold Starbucks accountable if they don't And certainly,
um, there's a lot of things that could be
on the table Now, Cassie and jazz. I
have one last question. Cassie, You can go
first. How do you feel? Are you Are
you scared to do this? Were you scared to
do this? Are you still fearful? What is
it that you're feeling in your heart? Um,
I was honestly on the fence for a really long
time. It took until about November for me to
really commit to the union. And I feel like
now I'm full force. Um, the wind last
week hasn't really sunk in yet. It's still,
you know, in the process of sinking in,
I don't think that it's going to sink in until
I see whether or not Starbucks objects to our,
um or when Chaz Same question. I don't think
that I was scared going in because I worked with
the spot coffee workers and seen that they could win
their union even despite union busting, because the Buffalo
community backed them so wholeheartedly. But I have to
say going through a four month anti union campaign has
been incredibly draining and anxiety inducing, Which is the
point, um, And in the next round of
stores that have filed in Buffalo. Um, they've
been, you know, targeting union supporters and retaliating
against committee leaders even more than they did previously,
because I think they realized that there are kind of
nice guy tactic wasn't working. So now, there
, cracking down. It's all psychological warfare to try
to divide us. And I think we are trying
to show that that's not going to work. Cassie
Fleischer and Jazz Brozak baristas at Starbucks Buffalo Store Ladies
, thank you so much for joining me and sharing
your story.