With seven years of experience as a barista, Sarah Broad knows how to make all kinds of coffee.
Now the Starbucks worker also knows what it feels like to be a union member and the face of a growing campaign by the United Steelworkers (USW) to unionize Starbucks stores in Canada.
“I never realized how passionate I would feel about the labour movement,” said Broad in an interview from her basement apartment in Victoria, B.C.
Broad, a shift supervisor at a Victoria location, helped organize her store in August 2020, the only one in Canada at the time. She’s one of a number of service industry and retail workers in North America joining the labour movement since the start of the pandemic.
The surge in interest has some labour leaders and experts wondering if this moment could mark a turning point for unions who have seen declining numbers in the sector for years.
“I think this could be a watershed movement for Canadian and U.S. unions,” said Nicole Denier, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton who studies unions.
“We’ll see over the next year whether or not the momentum will continue to build.”
WATCH | Workers trying to unionize hundreds of Starbucks stores:
Unionizing efforts come to Starbucks, food service workers
16 hours ago
Duration 2:00
Starbucks is the latest major food service company to see unionizing efforts spread across Canada recently.
An online tracker and map based on numbers from the U.S. National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) shows about 300 Starbucks shops in the U.S have filed to unionize in just six months, including the flagship roastery in the company’s hometown of Seattle. According to the tracker, run by a non-profit media organization that focuses on labour stories, more than half have been certified.
Broad says health and safety issues related to the pandemic, abusive customers and the high cost of living In Victoria made her and her coworkers seek union representation to make their working conditions better and improve their wages.
While the process was “a little intimidating,” she said that getting workers onboard in her store didn’t take long because most were “super gung-ho.”
It took a little over a month to get the store’s union certified under B.C. law, but took almost a year to negotiate a collective agreement with Starbucks Canada.
For USW it will be expensive to organize and support many small locations one at a time compared to organizing large factories, lumber mills or offices. But the small bargaining units are not the only challenge in organizing the service and retail sectors.
“The major issue is turnover in employees. It’s a younger, transient workforce,” said Mike Duhra, a USW representative for Western Canada.
Another factor, says Duhra, is that unions are so rare in the sector that some workers just aren’t familiar with them or don’t recognize how they can help.
Mike Duhra, a USW representative for Western Canada, says companies like Starbucks are hard to organize because of employee turnover is high and there are many locations, but the union is looking to expand in sectors like food service and retail. (James Dunne/CBC)
A spokesperson for Starbucks Canada told CBC News the company believes it is better without a union, but it continues to “respect our partners’ right to organize.”
In addition, wage increases are not being offered to the unionized location in Victoria because it has “its own collective agreement, including its own unique wage increase schedule.”
Broad believes the unionized stores aren’t getting a raise because “they’re just trying to make us look bad and retaliate against us for unionizing.”
Economic conditions primed for union growth
Mikal Skuterud, an economist at the University of Waterloo, says the current tight labour market and high inflation both favour union growth.
“Unionization rates are procyclical,” says Skuterud, “so when the economy goes into a boom, unionization rates tend to go up.”
According to the NLRB, applications to start unions in U.S. workplaces are up 57 per cent this year compared to the first six months of 2021.
Equivalent data about union organizing in Canada is not available but Bea Bruske, the president of the Canadian Labour Congress said “we are seeing growing momentum in Canada towards unionization, especially amongst young workers.”
While there’s movement at big companies, young workers also organized unions at a video game maker and a liquor store.
Workers from an Indigo location in Mississauga, Ont., rally in September 2020 before their successful vote to join the United Food and Commercial Workers. (UFCW Local 106A)
Even so, Skuterud says unions in the private sector in Canada could desperately use a boost.
“Unionization rates, particularly in the private sector, are the lowest they’ve ever been.”
USW’s Duhra says unions are indeed looking to move into new sectors for growth.
“We have to find new members … and this is a perfect industry where people need a union,” he said, adding that workers at Starbucks came to USW for help.
Will the momentum last?
Lawyer and professor Kenneth Thornicroft from the University of Victoria is skeptical that Starbucks will become a highly unionized company.
“Unless a union is able to get pretty deep penetration across the store network,” he said, Starbucks “can just wait them out,” and as members get tired of paying dues, stores will decertify.
He believes unions might have a better opportunity for growth in the banking and financial services sector than in food service.
But Denier thinks the retail and food sectors are ripe for unionization because both industries have long been under-unionized.
In her view, workers aren’t just committed to getting better wages “but to having a voice in the workplace.”
She adds that workers are also focused on making companies that market themselves as progressive accountable for their public image.
For her part, the new union activist Sarah Broad is eagerly serving up advice and support to potential barista brothers and sisters trying to organize other stores.
“I’m so excited that they’re wanting to join and it’s going to be challenging,” she said, “but it’s so worth it.”
Human Resources Officers must be very busy these days what with the general turnover of employees in our retail and business sectors. It is hard enough to find skilled people let alone potential employees willing to be trained. Then after the training, a few weeks go by then they come to you and ask for a raise. You refuse as there simply is no excess money in the budget and away they fly to wherever they come from, trained but not willing to put in the time to achieve that wanted raise.
I have had potentials come in and we give them a test to see if they do indeed know how to weld, polish or work with wood. 2-10 we hire, and one of those is gone in a week or two. Ask that they want overtime, and their laughter leaving the building is loud and unsettling. Housing starts are doing well but way behind because those trades needed to finish a project simply don’t come to the site, with delay after delay. Some people’s attitudes are just too funny. A recent graduate from a Ivy League university came in for an interview. The position was mid-management potential, but when we told them a three month period was needed and then they would make the big bucks they disappeared as fast as they arrived.
Government agencies are really no help, sending us people unsuited or unwilling to carry out the jobs we offer. Handing money over to staffing firms whose referrals are weak and ineffectual. Perhaps with the Fall and Winter upon us, these folks will have to find work and stop playing on the golf course or cottaging away. Tried to hire new arrivals in Canada but it is truly difficult to find someone who has a real identity card and is approved to live and work here. Who do we hire? Several years ago my father’s firm was rocking and rolling with all sorts of work. It was a summer day when the immigration officers arrived and 30+ employees hit the bricks almost immediately. The investigation that followed had threats of fines thrown at us by the officials. Good thing we kept excellent records, photos and digital copies. We had to prove the illegal documents given to us were as good as the real McCoy.
Restauranteurs, builders, manufacturers, finishers, trades-based firms, and warehousing are all suspect in hiring illegals, yet that becomes secondary as Toronto increases its minimum wage again bringing our payroll up another $120,000. Survival in Canada’s financial and business sectors is questionable for many. Good luck Chuck!. at least your carbon tax refund check should be arriving soon.
NORMAN WELLS, N.W.T. – Imperial Oil says it will temporarily reduce its fuel prices in a Northwest Territories community that has seen costs skyrocket due to low water on the Mackenzie River forcing the cancellation of the summer barge resupply season.
Imperial says in a Facebook post it will cut the air transportation portion that’s included in its wholesale price in Norman Wells for diesel fuel, or heating oil, from $3.38 per litre to $1.69 per litre, starting Tuesday.
The air transportation increase, it further states, will be implemented over a longer period.
It says Imperial is closely monitoring how much fuel needs to be airlifted to the Norman Wells area to prevent runouts until the winter road season begins and supplies can be replenished.
Gasoline and heating fuel prices approached $5 a litre at the start of this month.
Norman Wells’ town council declared a local emergency on humanitarian grounds last week as some of its 700 residents said they were facing monthly fuel bills coming to more than $5,000.
“The wholesale price increase that Imperial has applied is strictly to cover the air transportation costs. There is no Imperial profit margin included on the wholesale price. Imperial does not set prices at the retail level,” Imperial’s statement on Monday said.
The statement further said Imperial is working closely with the Northwest Territories government on ways to help residents in the near term.
“Imperial Oil’s decision to lower the price of home heating fuel offers immediate relief to residents facing financial pressures. This step reflects a swift response by Imperial Oil to discussions with the GNWT and will help ease short-term financial burdens on residents,” Caroline Wawzonek, Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance and Infrastructure, said in a news release Monday.
Wawzonek also noted the Territories government has supported the community with implementation of a fund supporting businesses and communities impacted by barge cancellations. She said there have also been increases to the Senior Home Heating Subsidy in Norman Wells, and continued support for heating costs for eligible Income Assistance recipients.
Additionally, she said the government has donated $150,000 to the Norman Wells food bank.
In its declaration of a state of emergency, the town said the mayor and council recognized the recent hike in fuel prices has strained household budgets, raised transportation costs, and affected local businesses.
It added that for the next three months, water and sewer service fees will be waived for all residents and businesses.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
TORONTO – A new report says many Canadian business leaders are worried about economic uncertainties related to the looming U.S. election.
The survey by KPMG in Canada of 735 small- and medium-sized businesses says 87 per cent fear the Canadian economy could become “collateral damage” from American protectionist policies that lead to less favourable trade deals and increased tariffs
It says that due to those concerns, 85 per cent of business leaders in Canada polled are reviewing their business strategies to prepare for a change in leadership.
The concerns are primarily being felt by larger Canadian companies and sectors that are highly integrated with the U.S. economy, such as manufacturing, automotive, transportation and warehousing, energy and natural resources, as well as technology, media and telecommunications.
Shaira Nanji, a KPMG Law partner in its tax practice, says the prospect of further changes to economic and trade policies in the U.S. means some Canadian firms will need to look for ways to mitigate added costs and take advantage of potential trade relief provisions to remain competitive.
Both presidential candidates have campaigned on protectionist policies that could cause uncertainty for Canadian trade, and whoever takes the White House will be in charge during the review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2026.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.
