Unionization Efforts in The Coffee Industry

Is there change brewing for workers in the coffee industry?

We're at a turning point when it comes to labor in the US. Workers are fed up with low-wage jobs and unsafe treatment by employers. The COVID-19 pandemic made something visible that was already true: employers will put the lives of employees and the public at risk to protect margins. That realization hasn't faded. If anything, it's accelerated.

One solution that workers are turning to, especially in the coffee industry, is the organization of labor unions.

What is a union?

A union is simply an organized group of workers. These workers come together to make decisions about their working conditions, which are then presented to management. This is a process known as collective bargaining. Making demands as a group is more effective than going alone. Through collective bargaining, workers can win demands that would be difficult or impossible to achieve individually.

There are multiple processes involved in a union becoming officially recognized. Aiden Graham, Campaigns Manager and Field Director for North Carolina State American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (NC AFL-CIO), explains the steps required to gain successful union recognition:

"For a union to be officially recognized, they have to pass two tests. One is demonstrating the majority of the workers wanting a union, either through signing cards and voluntary recognition by the employer or an election, and then successfully negotiating a first contract."

Graham goes on to explain that there's a timeline of one year to negotiate a first contract after the first union meeting. Until that contract is negotiated, the union still isn't official.

Why is union organization important?

In many places, particularly in the US, a lot of the protections and benefits that workers enjoy are the result of union efforts. Overtime pay, a standard eight-hour work day, weekends. All of these came through collective bargaining. An employer's first priority is profit.

Labor unions provide workers with a formal, legally enforceable voice and real bargaining power. People deserve fair pay for their time and labor. They deserve safe working conditions when they show up to work. Unions help workers organize and negotiate for improvements to pay and conditions. If concessions aren't made, unionized workers can also strike, stopping work until a negotiation is reached.

The pandemic highlighted how much risk service industry workers face. Coffee shops are high-volume, and most customer interactions happen face to face. It's a health risk to work during a public health crisis. Unions can be a powerful tool for organizing around workers' rights.

Without a labor force, businesses would cease to exist. Workers are a vital resource. With the ability to collectively bargain and strike, unionized workers make it clear that they hold the power driving businesses and the broader economy.

Unionization in cafes

Cafe workers have faced workplace issues for a long time, though unionization has historically been low in the sector. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the food and beverage service industry has one of the lowest unionization rates in the country (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

As workplace issues became more visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, workers started seeing what unionization could deliver.

In 2021, workers at Midwest-based Colectivo formed what was then the country's largest cafe union, with about 400 employees voting to organize (Waxman). Their efforts were challenged by management for over a year, but the National Labor Relations Board ruled that pro-union employees could join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

Before Colectivo, Buffalo, N.Y.-based SPoT Coffee had been the largest group of organized coffee service workers. Starting with 12 members, the SPoT union grew to 130 members across New York locations ("SPoT Coffee Workers").

What do unionized employees stand to gain?

As a unified body, unions ensure that workers' voices aren't lost. Beyond advocating for higher wages, labor unions affect employee benefits, workplace health and safety, and many other work-related issues.

The ability to bargain as a collective is powerful. It's much harder for employers to reject the demands of a group than an individual. Workers who are part of a union also earn more on average. Nonunion workers have median weekly earnings of $1,174, compared to $1,404 for union members. That's 84 cents on the dollar (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Unionized workers are also more likely to keep their jobs long-term. As part of a union, a worker can't be fired without a concrete and valid reason. That changes the power dynamic. An employer must prove the reason for termination before doing so ("All About Unions").

The gains are real. So are the obstacles.

Avoiding contract negotiations

One obstacle unions face is employers who create roadblocks to contract negotiation. Employers are required by law to negotiate in good faith with unions representing employees ("Bargaining in Good Faith"). It can be hard to hold companies accountable when it comes to good-faith negotiations, though.

Graham explains that many unions who win their first election aren't able to negotiate a first contract. Holding off on negotiations is one of the "..tactics by employers to try to avoid bargaining. Right now, there's no requirement that the employer has to settle a first contract."

Things may be changing.

A bill called the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act, aims to close loopholes in current labor law at the federal level, including making it harder for employers to prevent the negotiation of a first contract and requiring arbitration ("Why the US ProAct Matters"). Graham says it's possible "the ProAct could change and could say. . . if the company is not bargaining in good faith. . . arbitration could be a last measure that the union could use to get that first contract." The PRO Act has passed the House multiple times but hasn't cleared the Senate.

How "right-to-work" states obstruct unionization efforts

So-called "right-to-work" laws have a long history in the United States, going back to the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 ("Right-to-Work Law").

That act allowed for union shops (shops that require workers to join a union after being hired) but outlawed closed shops (which only hire union workers). An exception in the Taft-Hartley Act allowed states to supersede the federal law by passing their own right-to-work legislation.

In a right-to-work state, workers can't be forced to unionize, and legislation exists so that unions can't force strikes on workers. Those who don't wish to join a union can't be forced to pay union dues. These laws benefit employers and can seriously hinder workers' ability to collectively bargain for better conditions.

One common misperception is that workers in a right-to-work state can't unionize. That isn't true. Graham explains that the "right to form a union is basically a constitutionally protected right. Freedom to assemble is laid out in the Constitution."

There's often confusion, especially in North Carolina. Graham continues: "part of the confusion, especially when it comes to North Carolina, is a separate law, General Statute 95-98. It was passed around the same time as right-to-work laws, and there are only two or three states in the US that still have this law on the books."

This law prohibits public sector workers from having a collective bargaining agreement. They can unionize, but they can't have a contract. North Carolina had approximately 113,000 union members in 2025, representing 2.5 percent of wage and salary workers in the state (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Union busting

Union busting is an umbrella term for activities meant to prevent or disrupt union formation in the workplace. It remains one of the biggest obstacles to organizing.

The Starbucks campaign is the most visible example in coffee. In late 2021, employees in Buffalo, N.Y. began organizing with Workers United (Slater). The movement spread fast. Within three years, over 400 Starbucks locations across the country had voted to unionize, making it the largest private-sector organizing drive in U.S. food service in decades ("Starbucks Faces Expansion"). Starbucks fought back at every stage. Workers United documented a pattern of "threats, intimidation, surveillance, solicitation of grievances, and the closing of facilities." The National Labor Relations Board ruled repeatedly that Starbucks had committed unfair labor practices, including retaliating against pro-union workers.

Los Angeles-based Augie's offers a starker case. Shortly after learning of employees' plans to unionize, management shut down stores in July 2020 and laid off 54 employees. The company publicly cited COVID-19 as the reason. After a nearly six-month investigation, the National Labor Relations Board formally ruled in December 2020 that the layoffs were illegal retaliation against union efforts (Arellano).

Tactics for union busting vary, but they share a goal: stop organizing at all costs. One particularly insidious tactic is intelligence operations. An employer hires an informant to report on union meetings. The Wagner Act deems this an unfair labor practice, but it's difficult to prove. That difficulty is exactly why it persists.

While union efforts on the storefront side of the industry are relatively new, there's a history of unionization in other parts of the coffee supply chain.

Farm unionization

One of the long-standing coffee farmer's unions is the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union. The Oromia region of Ethiopia, known as the birthplace of coffee, is home to the Oromo people. The Oromo have used coffee since the fifth century: as a beverage, a trade item, a tool for peacekeeping, and for spiritual nourishment.

The OCFCU organized itself in June 1999. Sourcing only coffee from the region, the cooperative exports Fairtrade-certified, traceable, and organic coffee.

The Fairtrade premium earned is invested in local social projects like schools and improved access to drinking water. The union has also opened its own bank, providing much-needed financial services to area coffee farmers. Beyond loans, they offer crop insurance, a major benefit as coffee production faces increasing pressure from climate change.

The Oromia Coffee Union shows what happens when organized farmers gain access to financing, crop insurance, and direct market channels. Working with the union, farmers have support from an organized body, giving them access to benefits that wouldn't be possible individually.

How to support the labor movement in coffee

There are a range of ways coffee consumers can support unions within the industry. Graham suggests that "first and foremost is to follow the lead of the workers." He describes how "union work is inherently risky. . . people are putting a lot at risk, and it's important that things stay quiet, and sometimes for quite a while until workers are organized enough to withstand any pushback from employers."

The rules are often rigged in favor of corporations and business owners. Graham continues: "A lot of times, managers will just fire people. Even though, legally, they aren't allowed to do that, they'll do a cost/benefit analysis, and are sometimes just willing to risk it."

He doesn't want people to feel discouraged from organizing, and he's hopeful about the future of the labor movement. There are a lot of resources available.

For those new to organizing, Graham suggests Labor Notes as a strong beginner resource. They offer materials about organizing backed by around 40 years of movement experience.

Steps forward

As more workers in the coffee industry refuse to settle for poor treatment, change can follow. But it takes organization. Graham suggests that "we need pretty substantial labor law reform (in the US) to start going in the right direction." That process is slow.

He offers one other suggestion:

"The other thing that we need is workers organizing, anywhere and everywhere they can."

Let's get to work.

Special thanks to Aiden Graham of NC AFL-CIO.

Works Cited

"All About Unions." Workplace Fairness, 2021, www.workplacefairness.org/labor-unions#2.

Arellano, Gustavo. "Did Baristas Lose Jobs over COVID-19 or Unionization?" Los Angeles Times, 19 July 2020, www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-19/baristas-lose-jobs-covid-19-unionization-augies-coffee-house.

"Bargaining in Good Faith with Employees' Union Representative (Section 8(d) & 8(a)(5))." National Labor Relations Board, www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/the-law/bargaining-in-good-faith-with-employees-union-representative.

News Release: Union Members -- 2024. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 23 Jan. 2025, www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf.

"Right-to-Work Law." Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2021, www.britannica.com/topic/right-to-work-law.

Slater, Joseph. "Starbucks Baristas Are on the Verge of Forming a Union. The Company Is Pushing Back." The Washington Post, 23 Nov. 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/11/23/starbucks-union-buffalo/.

"SPoT Coffee Workers Make Union History." Barista Magazine, 2020, www.baristamagazine.com/spot-coffee-workers-make-union-history/.

"Starbucks Faces Expansion of Labor Union Drive Beyond New York." CNBC, 18 Nov. 2021, www.cnbc.com/2021/11/18/starbucks-faces-expansion-of-labor-union-drive-beyond-new-york-.html.

Waxman, Nick. "Colectivo Coffee Workers Form America's Largest Cafe Union." Eater Chicago, 24 Aug. 2021, chicago.eater.com/2021/8/24/22639308/colectivo-coffee-union-victory-largest-coffee-chain-nlrb-ruling.

"Why the US ProAct Matters for the Right to Unionize: Questions and Answers." Human Rights Watch, 29 Apr. 2021, www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/29/why-us-pro-act-matters-right-unionize-questions-and-answers.