I’m helping Philly Starbucks unionize because my colleagues and I deserve a safe workplace

I didn’t expect to start a union at Starbucks. But over the last few months, that’s exactly what I and many others have tried to do.

My job started out really well. I was offered a full-time manager position, which seemed like a great opportunity to run a team, something I’ve enjoyed doing in the past, and to gain important leadership skills. But after learning more about the Starbucks corporate atmosphere, I politely declined the position but promised to stay on as a full-time employee. I wanted to keep working 32 to 36 hours each week — which are tied directly to benefit eligibility, such as health insurance — and keep doing work I genuinely enjoyed.

But shortly after I turned down the management position, my schedule was dramatically reduced. Instead of the 32 to 36 hours I was promised when I was hired, I was being assigned only 26 hours per week. That wasn’t nearly enough to support myself and it wasn’t what my boss told me I’d be earning when I was hired.

After many conversations with management, going as far up as my district manager, I was informed that I was classified as a part-time employee in Starbucks’ human resources system, despite being offered and accepting a full-time position. A senior leader in the company told me the position I’d been promised did not actually exist. I have been left with no way forward. This move by Starbucks stripped me of any protections with regard to the number of guaranteed hours I would work, and thus makes it impossible for me to budget and pay my bills.

Beyond my own issues at Starbucks, I’ve seen things there that have truly troubled me.

In my store, there was a piece of faulty equipment that took months to replace, even after my colleague received a second-degree burn from working with it. That colleague then had to wait months to receive compensation for the days of work she missed due to this workplace injury.

Once, a customer threatened to bring a gun to our store and shoot employees. My colleagues and I were pleased when Starbucks arranged for a security guard to monitor our workplace for a few days, but eventually he was removed from the store. We were told it was because having security negatively impacted customer experience. No one seemed to care about the employee experience of being terrified to come to work.

This is not uncommon in retail and food service jobs. It was true before the pandemic, but COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation thanks to the additional stressors of a broken supply chain and massive employee turnover.

» READ MORE: Workers at Philly Starbucks stores want to unionize

Employees like my colleagues and I deserve to have a say in our working conditions instead of being subjected to what a megacorporation like Starbucks believes we deserve. We are the faces behind the counters, the people who make sure each store runs smoothly. We are the ones who have created record profits for the company, yet we are never considered.

This must change. That’s why we are organizing a union. In February, workers at my Starbucks location at 20th and Market Streets joined with three other locations to announce our intention to join Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. We join workers who are organizing at Starbucks stores across the country, including more than 100 locations and two of the company’s roasters in Seattle and New York City.

Building a union from the ground up is not easy. We began by forming an organizing committee, mapping out our workforce, and advancing strategically by approaching colleagues who we thought would be receptive to the idea. We began to get to know our coworkers in more meaningful ways, finding out what our baristas needed to improve their working conditions but also their livelihoods. It wasn’t difficult to find solidarity in one another, and agree that we deserve better from our employer.

Even so, we face challenges from Starbucks. Our hours have been cut and continue to decline since filing our petition to unionize, forcing many to consider seeking other jobs. We continue to be forced to attend mandatory corporate meetings, where misinformation about Workers United and bargaining is spread. Organizing in the face of such resistance for the last two months — on top of our regular jobs, which keep us on our feet for many hours each week — is exhausting.

But we have found comfort and solidarity by watching workers across the country. Witnessing the unionization of Amazon workers in Staten Island was an immense source of joy, and inspiration for Philadelphia organizers. They made us feel success is possible.

And there is light on the horizon: On May 2, we will begin holding our union elections for five of our six petitioned Starbucks locations in Philadelphia. We are confident in our belief that collective action is the way forward. The relationship between workers and corporations is beginning to change, and we hope our unionization efforts spark inspiration in the working class.

Alexandra Rosa is a shift supervisor at Starbucks and is an organizing committee member of her store’s union campaign.