It only took a week for Starbucks workers in Oak Bay to get the votes needed to file for unionization, says a barista who helped put together the union drive.
“We did have a lot of pro-union sentiment in the store before we started, so finding the numbers wasn’t very difficult,” said shift supervisor Syssillia Reid.
Reid and about a dozen other workers at the coffee chain’s store on Oak Bay Avenue reached the threshold for automatic union certification this month and are waiting for final approval from the B.C. Labour Relations Board.
A decision on the union-certification attempt is expected to come in June.
Reid, who has worked at the Oak Bay Starbucks branch for four years, said recent changes in the company — including a new CEO, more restrictive policies on use of store spaces by those not buying drinks, and a new dress code requiring solid black tops — helped tip the scales in favour of unionization for store workers, most of whom have been with the company for multiple years.
In January, Starbucks rescinded its longstanding “third space” policy that allowed people to sit in the store and use washroom facilities without having to buy a drink.
Reid said after the policy change, police were called in response to someone sitting in the Oak Bay branch and charging their phone, an act she considers “egregious.”
Another unpopular policy was the new requirement for a handwritten note on every drink, she said. “It’s lost the charm that it had before, because now it’s a mandatory thing. It’s every single cup.”
That extra five seconds per drink adds up for baristas who can make up to 100 drinks an hour during rush hours, Reid said. “When we have 20 people waiting in line, it just adds a lot of stress to the job.”
Regular customers at the store have been congratulating workers on their successful union drive, she said, adding it went so smoothly, the company didn’t catch wind of the union drive until after a majority had been reached and store employees had filed to certify with United Steelworkers.
A district manager — who usually comes by every two weeks to a month — was in the store for much of the week after the drive scheduling meetings with workers to chat about potential effects of unionizing, she said.
“[She] was very kind and polite about it, but she was just talking about things like the grievance process can be so much harsher on union stores and really just trying to talk up all the negatives,” she said.
Reid said as she was helping put the union drive together in April, she was reminded of her mother, a lifelong food-service worker who had to quit the industry when her health was too affected by working conditions.
“One of the very, very early memories I have with her is talking about how she wished there was some sort of third-party representation [or] collective agreement in food service.”
United Steelworkers western director Scott Lunny said the next step for Oak Bay Starbucks is to determine where it fits within the two collective bargaining units that the union has with Starbucks in B.C.
The Victoria store on Douglas street, which unionized in 2020 and ratified its first collective agreement a year later, is in the midst of negotiating its second collective agreement.
Another four stores in the Lower Mainland and Powell River are governed under a joint bargaining unit after the B.C. Labour Relations Board ruled this year that it was permissible following a challenge by Starbucks.
Lunny said Starbucks workers deserve the opportunity to try and improve their working conditions.
“If you’ve been to Starbucks, you know how hectic the place seems — and I think the workers feel there’s not always a priority put on them and their well being,” he said.
When the Starbucks at 3180 Douglas St. unionized, it kicked off a fresh wave of Starbucks store unionizations across Canada and the U.S.
Starbucks Canada has 15 stores in the country that are represented by United Steelworkers. Eight have negotiated collective bargaining agreements, while the rest are still underway. The company operates more than 900 stores in Canada.
A Starbucks spokesperson said the company respects the right of all of its employees to “make their own decisions regarding unions, whether they favour or oppose representation.”
