Editor’s note: On Nov. 13, 2024, workers voted to reject the petition to unionize.
Starbucks workers at a Lower Nob Hill location are looking to become the third unionized Starbucks in the city amid concerns around major understaffing.
Workers recently filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to unionize at the coffee chain’s store on Van Ness Avenue and Geary Boulevard, and plan to host an election Nov. 13, union organizer Denzel Garcia told Gazetteer SF. The union would cover 16 part- and full-time baristas and shift supervisors.
Garcia, a barista at the Lower Nob Hill Starbucks,, said this specific store is “really busy” given its proximity to bus stops for two major Muni lines, the 49 Van Ness and the 38 Geary. Garcia said “we get a lot of traffic pretty much all day, and it’s a really hectic environment,” adding that the location is “usually very short-staffed.”
As the union election approaches, Garcia said that he is feeling “incredible” about the potential to successfully unionize. The support among other baristas and shift supervisors is “pretty solid,” he noted.
Workers are represented by Starbucks Workers United. Since 2021, the union has helped workers across 515 Starbucks locations nationwide unionize, including two locations in San Francisco. In August 2022, Starbucks workers at the 18th and Castro location voted to unionize, followed by workers at the 9th and Irving location last year.
The nationwide push to unionize has come as Starbucks workers have filed hundreds of unfair labor practice charges against the company since 2021, according to the federal labor board. Within that time, board members and judges have found labor violations in 101 cases.
Earlier this year, Starbucks executive Sara Kelly committed to “a fair process for organizing” with Workers United.
In a statement to Gazetteer, Starbucks spokesperson Phil Gee said the company believes “that our direct relationship as partners is core to the experiences we create in our stores, and we respect our partners' rights to have a choice on the topic of unions.”
But just last month, a federal labor judge ordered Starbucks to bargain with a group of workers in Great Neck, New York, stating that Starbucks had “engaged in a widespread campaign of unfair labor practices,” including “interrogation, threats, creating the impression of surveillance,” and retaliation.
Understaffing, overwork, and “a lack of say in our workplace” amid Starbucks’ billion-dollar profits are the key driving forces behind the nationwide effort to unionize Starbucks locations, according to the union’s site.
If workers at the Lower Nob Hill location are successful in their unionizing efforts, the plan is to bargain for more resources and better staffing, Garcia said.
“I pride myself in my work, no matter what job I have,” he said, “and having good enough staffing makes it easier to give my all and it helps morale.”
While adequate staffing is the organizing committee’s main goal, Garcia recognizes that “wages universally are always a complaint at any store and ours is no different.”
“Of course we would love to get paid more,” he said. “It’s incredibly busy year-round and it seems unfair not to be paid what we deserve.”
