'We are not just baristas who make drinks,' Somerville Ave. Starbucks workers file to form union
SOMERVILLE - Workers of the Somerville Ave. Starbucks have called for a union, claiming they feel undervalued by the corporation.
"All of us here work tirelessly, every day, to ensure our customers' needs are met," workers wrote in a letter declaring the union's formation. "To make our store a place where people want to go for that hot cup of coffee in the morning, or a quick breakfast on their way to work. To provide the 'Third Place' so that people not only leave satisfied, but want to come back."
"We are not just baristas who make drinks...we give our all to make our store a place that people want to be," they continued.
In a letter addressed to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, employees of the Somerville Ave. store cited several workplace malpractices as reasons for wanting to unionize.
"Our availability is ignored, and our already established shifts changed without our consent," the letter states. "Any complaints or requests for better accommodations are brushed off or neglected. Some partners have even dealt with distressing or threatening situations, with little to no support from management or the company as a whole. At times. we've been made to work in unsafe and unhealthy working conditions. Customers have expressed that we seem overworked and understaffed, (which we are)."
Workers called on the company to provide them with a living wage, mental and physical health benefits, performance-based raises, respect for availability and time-off requests, and better working conditions.
"Without us, there would be no 'Third Place,' no Starbucks," the letter said. "We are called 'Partners,' and yet we feel as if we are anything but. We're not asking for the world; merely our fair share."
In a recent interview with CNN, Schultz called the union push at Starbucks a reflection of broader struggles that young people face.
"It's my belief that the efforts of unionization in America are in many ways a manifestation of a much bigger problem," he said. "There is a macro issue here that is much, much bigger than Starbucks."
About a dozen Starbucks stores in the Boston area have voted to unionize, according to a map from Starbucks Workers United. Last year, union workers at a Commonwealth Avenue Starbucks by Boston University went on the longest strike in company history earlier this year, spending 64 days on the picket line.
