Workers Join the Union According to the Starbucks Workers Union they are, “an organization of employees at the world’s largest coffee chain united for a living wage, secure work hours, and respect on the job” (starbucksunion.org, about Starbucks union). The employees did not agree with working such shifts as closing one night and having to open the next day as well as not seeing any type of pay raises after working so may months with the company. In the process of unionization the workers union uses the term solidarity unionism, which means that any one who is employed by Starbucks can join the union at any time and it is free of charge.
Benefits of the Union The Starbucks workers have come together in this union to make their own decisions and demands. Being a member of the union comes with benefits which include protecting an employee at work against managers or people who try to treat the employee unethically, and gain privileges such as wage increases and guaranteed hours. The union is a team, which will protect a worker, and will have their support each day on the job. The union has won victories in places such as New York and Chicago. Earning citywide wage increases and consistent schedules as well as more work hours, have improved work life for the baristas. Not only does an employee have these benefits but there is also a group within the union, which are individual grievances members. If one person is improperly paid the grievances members will fight for the employee to be compensated for pay lost.
Legality Issues and Obstacles With a union there can be obstacles which management should pay close attention to in order to reduce unfair employment laws. Management is prohibited by law to interfere with the practices of those employees in a union. The 14th amendment of the US Constitution provides equal protection of all citizens (Cascio, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment, p.79). Whether the manager is for or against the union, they need to protect the decisions their employees made to join the union and respect that. Recently on Starbucksunion.org there has been a petition up for union members and supporters to sign in regards to how CEO, Howard Schultz utilizes the billions of dollars the company is profiting. Union members are outraged because instead of compensating their employees, “Schultz handed out millions in dividends to wealthy investors while squeezing us like never before” (Starbucksunion.org, para. 1). This is a prime example of an obstacle the company and the union has to battle out. In some cases the union has won the right to be accurately compensated as well as guaranteed hours. The company has to respect this victory of the union and see that the right amount of dividend is used towards employees who need it the most.