Oak Creek Starbucks Workers Make Bid For First Union In Wisconsin

OAK CREEK, WI — Employees at a Starbucks in Oak Creek announced their intentions Friday to pursue union representation from Workers United. It wouldn't be the first coffee workers union attempt in Wisconsin, but it could be a first in the state for Starbucks.

Two employees at the location told Patch that a big part of the push to unionize is about physical safety and financial safety.

"We deserve to make enough money to have a savings account, to pay our bills and fix our cars," employee Hannah Fogarty, 23, told Patch.

In a letter sent to Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, hourly workers at the 8880 Howell Avenue location demanded voluntary recognition of the union, according to a news release from Workers United's Chicago and Midwest Regional Joint Board.

The push in Oak Creek comes after numerous other Starbucks locations across the country have made their intentions for union representation public, according to reports. It also comes after workers at Colectivo, a craft coffee chain with locations across the Milwaukee area, successfully voted for union representation last summer.

"It was around September that we started hearing about what was going on in Buffalo. It's kind of been something we chatted about in the store, but it seemed so unattainable," Fogarty said, "and then all of a sudden, all these other stores started doing it, and then it didn't feel so impossible anymore. And then here we are less than a month and a half later."

Of about 30 workers at the store, a majority have signed authorization cards, marking the petition as a first for Starbucks stores in Wisconsin, according to Mary Floreani, an organizer for Workers United CMRJB.

"Wisconsin has a rich and complex history in the American labor movement despite former Governor Scott Walker’s historic attack on our state’s unions," reads the letter sent by Workers United CMRJB and hourly employees declaring the petition to unionize. "We are proudly standing together 11 years later both as Starbucks partners and Wisconsinites to speak up for what we believe in as a store and as a state."

Fogarty said the community can support the union by coming in and ordering drinks under the name of "union yes" or "union strong."

"We would love the support of our community," Fogarty said. "We love our jobs. We love our regulars. We've got a lot of them."

"I think we're making a return back to ourselves, and I'm personally expecting this to kind of ... I'm hoping that this sparks a big change in the state. Especially across our Starbucks stores," Fogarty said.

The first demand from the nascent union after it files a petition with the National Labor Relations Board is to be recognized by Starbucks voluntarily.

In response to the news of union organizing, a spokesperson for Starbucks told Patch that a union is not necessary because the company already provides industry-leading benefits, many of which were created with employee feedback.

When petitions arise, Starbucks listens to the partners in those stores, the spokesperson said, but if a union should materialize, they will bargain in good faith.

"We're encouraging our partners to make the choice that's right for them. And if they choose to be represented by Workers United, you know, that won't change how we show up for each other or who we are," the spokesperson said.

Employees told Patch the drive for a union at the Howell location picked up speed as the omicron variant gripped the country. Just after Christmas, nearly half of the store was out because employees had tested positive for COVID-19 or were exposed, according to Fogarty.

"After that happened, Starbucks, shortened their policy to a five-day isolation, which resulted in people coming to work, still showing symptoms," Fogarty said.

In response, a spokesperson for Starbucks said the switch to five-day isolations followed CDC guidance, and that when there are too many cases for a store to stay open, the store is supposed to close while workers there are offered catastrophe pay as well as shifts at other stores. If workers have symptoms that continue past five days, they are able to work with their store leads to extend isolation or take sick leave, the spokesperson said, adding "we don't want anyone coming in sick."

Adam Stikel, a 17-year-old student at Oak Creek High School, is also part of the attempt to organize a union. He said that although he doesn't yet have bills to pay like the others, he's witnessed the struggles that some people have had with just paying rent.

Stikel said recently he's had his own hours cut at the store, "so other people could work even more to just pay their rent for apartments, which is really, which is honestly, to me, just really sad."

Stikel added the union has received support from other minors working at the location. And, he said, he's received support from his fellow students at Oak Creek High School for the union drive.

"I think it's important we all get a voice, especially even if you're still a high school student, and a lot of people appreciate that," Stikel said.

Fogarty said the minimum wage at the store is about $13 an hour — a number eclipsed by $15-an-hour demands echoed by other protests and workers across the nation in recent years.

Workers at the Starbucks location haven't yet published a specific demand for wage hikes, but the letter to the CEO said $12.60 per hour presents issues with paying the bills and saving money.

>>>Read the letter posted by CMRJB on Twitter.

In response to the wage concerns, a spokesperson for Starbucks pointed to several rounds of raises the company has initiated in the past two years — a $1 billion total investment that by this summer will bring workers' average wages up to $15-23 across the country, depending on cost of living and employee tenure.

"We want to have like a voice because obviously, we've tried multiple times just talking to corporate or talking to our manager and nothing has gone through," Stikel said. "And I think that this union will really give us some decisions in our policies and like our working environment."

The president of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO, spoke in support of the union after Friday's announcement in the CMRJB news release.

"My message to Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson is this: Keep your union busting and anti-worker
intimidation out of Wisconsin," Pam Fendt said in the news release. "In our state, we have each other's backs, we are union proud, and we are going to be fighting alongside our union siblings at Starbucks in Oak Creek until justice is won, and they have secured their first union contract.”

Patch reached out to Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz for comment on this story.