Catherwood LibraryILR School

Coffee shops have experienced a surge in union elections long before the relatively recent Starbuck union drives have made the news. While the Starbucks union drives do account for more than 50% of the growth, the increase in union organizing, up by 70% over last year alone, has also occurred in small independent coffee shops. The interest in unionizing reflects the kind of employees that coffee shops tend to hire - young people, often educated and progressive in political outlook, who as a generation have experienced a fair amount of upheaval in hard economic times, social unrest, as well as a global pandemic that conditioned workers to demand more. Many baristas have also paid attention to recent worker's movements such as the fast-food workers "Fight for $15" that emphasized better wages for those in the hospitality industry. The pandemic also made it clear that such workers were often left out of the decision making process that affected their health and safety.