Summer of Possibility: Starbucks and Amazon Wins Inspire Organizing at Trader Joe’s, REI, Target, and Apple

Another factor is the recent movements that young people have participated in, from Black Lives Matter to LGBTQ rights to climate justice to the push for stricter gun laws in the wake of school shootings.

“Any of the rights campaigns have taught a lesson—that you have to stand up for yourself and you need your coworkers to stand with you, that nobody’s coming to rescue us, that the system is not just,” says Bernard.

“So many people who work at Starbucks were out on the streets for the Black Lives Matter uprising,” says Moore. “I think so many people have seen collective action happening outside the workplace and are saying, ‘Hey, we can do that inside the workplace too.”

“We grew up in this world that is literally on fire and there’s so many things that you can’t do anything about,” says Pappin, who just turned 31. “For me this was the first time in my life that I felt there was something wrong and I could actually take steps that would right them.”

Those sections of the labor movement that have kept the organizing flame alive also deserve credit, says Kate Bronfenbrenner of Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations; she named SEIU, UNITE HERE, and the Communications Workers in particular.

“We don’t have this moment because of politics,” she said. “It’s because of the Kellogg’s workers, the Mineworkers, all the workers that went out on strike. And frankly because U.S. employers were so outrageous during Covid and before.”

STILL A CHALLENGE

Moody urges workers to organize now, before an eventual recession makes things harder: “you’re not gonna get a much better time to do it.”

But even with comparatively favorable conditions, wins are far from guaranteed. At a second Staten Island Amazon facility, for instance, workers lost their vote in April.

The outcome of the March rerun election at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, is still hanging on hundreds of challenged ballots—though in the initial count, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union did much better than the vote last year, winning 875 yes votes against 993 no. That shows that even if you lose or make mistakes, “you can come back and do better,” says Bronfenbrenner. “You just have to do the work.”

RWDSU is asking the Labor Board to once again set the election aside for employer misconduct.

Workers at a Target store in Christiansburg, Virginia, recently pulled their election petition after the Labor Board said they hadn’t met the 30 percent threshold. As Target Workers Unite, an independent union, they’ve been organizing for years for Covid-19 safety protocols and against a racist, sexist manager.

The group is keeping at it despite the setback. “If we could just get one win at one store, I think that will be the catalyst for other stores,” said Adam Ryan, who has worked there for five years. “A lot of people are just waiting for a breakthrough.”

At an Apple store in Atlanta, workers who had filed with 70 percent support withdrew their petition, too, in the face of an anti-union campaign.

New York City Apple store workers say the company ramped up its anti-union campaign against their own organizing after the Atlanta store filed. Their advice: Don’t rush things. “When you’re in that stage of talking to your co-workers, make sure you take as much time as you need,” said a worker at the Grand Central Terminal store who asked to remain anonymous. “Everybody needs to be involved, and have everybody heard.”

On June 18, Apple workers in Towson, Maryland, became the first to successfully form a union at the company, voting 65 to 33 to join the Machinists. Kevin Gallagher, one of the Towson workers involved in the campaign, said that since their win he’s gotten direct messages on social media from dozens of other Apple employees interested in unionizing around the country.

PATH TO A CONTRACT

None of these upstart unions has won a contract yet. So we don’t know yet whether their gamble will pay off.

Workers at the outdoor equipment and clothing store REI in New York City are facing threats and retaliation from management since they voted 88 to 14 to unionize in March. “I’m anticipating REI will fight us every step of the way,” said Graham Gale, a technical specialist at the store.

Since ALU’s election win, Amazon has filed 25 challenges to the outcome and fired two of the organizers and several managers at the Staten Island warehouse. Similarly, Starbucks Workers United has accused the coffee chain of retaliating against organizing efforts by firing union leaders and cutting hours at numerous stores.

“I don’t think any of us is under the illusion that it’s going to be easy,” says Moore.

One challenge for Starbucks workers, Bronfenbrenner points out, is that they’ll have to negotiate with the company’s founder, Howard Schultz, who returned as CEO in April. In the 1930s auto workers organizing drives, Ford was a tougher nut to crack than General Motors because it was still run by Henry Ford. “It’s hard for Starbucks to settle because it’s [Schultz] giving up control over his baby,” Bronfenbrenner said. “It’s much more of a control issue.”

Still, “I sense that Starbucks is vulnerable—it’s hurting because of the organizing campaign, its investors are uncomfortable,” says Bronfenbrenner. “As long as the number of Starbucks stores keeps growing, then the union has power.

“There’s a tipping point where a certain number of stores are organized. The question is: what is that tipping point? At some point they’re going to have to bargain, is my feeling.”

SUMMER OF SOLIDARITY

Starbucks Workers United is ramping up for a summer of solidarity that includes spreading the organizing to more stores as well as deepening the community and labor support for the campaign.

“It’s gonna be all hands on deck,” said Moore. “We’re gonna need the whole labor movement to come out.”

Workers United announced it has created a $1 million strike fund.

“A lot of us are ready to do whatever it takes to put the pressure on,” Clay said. “I hope we’ve organized at least 1,000 stores by Labor Day.”