Baristas Are the Brand | The Nation

When Starbucks’ unionized baristas walked out last November, they were asserting a fundamental truth about Starbucks itself: Workers are not incidental to the coffee chain’s experience. They are the experience.

From the speed and care with which a drink is prepared to the warmth of a familiar welcome in a neighborhood store, the value of the Starbucks brand is built on the skills and hard work of workers. Customers don’t come back just for a logo. They come back for the experience – the experience provided by the workers.

Yet in the United States, the baristas who make the coffee giant what it is are too often treated as costs to be minimized rather than assets in which to invest.

Baristas represented by Workers United, who are currently on strike over unfair labor practices, have made it clear what they are fighting for. Chronic understaffing forces workers to scramble to meet demand, compromising both work quality and customer service. The average barista doesn’t make a living wage: the starting wage in 33 states is $15.25 an hour. It’s only $16 an hour in 10 other states. Schedules fluctuate with little notice, making it difficult for workers to plan their lives or consistently meet the 20-hour threshold required to access the benefits their employer is proud to advertise.

This instability is compounded by Starbucks’ 150% availability rule, which requires baristas to be available 150% of the hours they are actually scheduled to work. With fluctuating schedules, this roundabout method of controlling workers’ time effectively puts them on call just to make ends meet.

And when workers organize to solve these problems collectively, they face not good faith negotiations but aggressive resistance, accompanied by a mountain of labor law violations.

Insecure hours, low wages and understaffing are clearly harming workers. They also erode the quality, care and consistency that Starbucks customers expect in the first place. A company cannot credibly promise community, comfort and connection while its employees live in instability and insecurity.

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol touted the company’s efforts toward a “turnaround.” But any serious change must begin with recognition of baristas’ fundamental human right to organize and collectively negotiate the conditions that shape their work. Baristas are at the center of the customer experience. No strategy will succeed if Niccol continues to view the union contract as an obstacle rather than a foundation of brand strength, quality and stability. Baristas are the business model.