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The Starbucks barista union has publicly hired workers’ organizers to seek work in the cafe, escalating campaigns representing workers just as the company aims to hire thousands of new ones.
Worker United is trained as organizers in the hopes of inviting people to social media, taking on work at Starbucks, persuading their peers to join the union. The group says it won the election with 600 of the US stores run by more than 10,300 Starbucks companies.
Starbucks executives now add to the staff after they admitted that the job offer reduced customer service. Worker recruitment means that some new recruits could also act as union agents.
“Apply for our new program. Get a job and show us how to organize our union. Let’s do this!” the union said in a post last month on X. Posts will be linked to the application form.
You need to get a job at Starbucks. Yes, you. 🫵
If you want to make a difference, why not work as a barista and organize your store?
Please apply for the new program. We will help you get jobs and help you teach you how to organize your union. Let’s do this! https://t.co/a9mgt4mf0p pic.twitter.com/hmsncfzgzc
– Starbucks Worker United (@SBWorkerSunited) May 5, 2025
Union and Starbucks have been giving on-off contract talks since their first store was combined in Buffalo, New York in late 2021.
Starbucks Chief Partner Officer Sarah Kelly said in a recent interview that the company has reached more than 30 interim agreements with workers. However, negotiations are tense. Last month, Union Barista surpassed her new dress code.
Working as a “salt” or as someone who signs on with the goal of combining it in the workplace has a long history. Jaz Brisack, who helped organize his first Starbucks store, was salt when he was hired as a barista, according to Brisack’s new book entitled Get On The Job and Organizing.
“It’s important to lie as little as possible, ideally, at all, to create a smooth transition from persona management that colleagues thought they had hired people they would become aware of during the campaign process,” Brissac wrote.
Currently, the union is publishing public attraction for more salt than it has attracted attention at Starbucks headquarters.
“We encourage people to focus on representing actual members by returning to the negotiation table to ensure fair and fair contracts, rather than hiring external organizers,” Starbucks said.
At a gathering of 14,000 store managers in Las Vegas this month, senior Starbucks executives did not mention the union during the sessions the Financial Times were invited to observe.
However, they disclosed plans to increase store salaries in August and provided careful guidance on who to hire.
“Make a choice,” Chief Operating Officer Mike Gram told the manager.
“So, this is really important to us, OK?” Gram said. “We’ll select the right people to join your great team and make sure that you make that decision right.”
Three and a half years after the successful initial organisation, Workers United represents 12,000 baristas. According to a Bernstein survey, Starbucks has more than 200,000 employees in its North American store after more than 200,000 employees fell to fifth place in the past two years.
Michelle Eisen, a worker negotiator and former barista worker, said union members have long advocated for more pay hours and better staffing levels.
“The company’s recent move is a verification of what they’ve heard of us,” she said. “That’s why we launched a program that will help hopeful barista apply for openings at our Starbucks stores to meet staff shortages, and we will also be talking about the power we all share when we organize.”
Kate Bronfenbrenner, a senior lecturer at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Affairs, said publishing it in the salting campaign could be a way to convey the message.
“This is part of (union) pressure on companies that say, ‘We’re sending salt,'” Bronfenbrenner said. “That’s because no matter what you do, we’re going to continue organizing.”
