Current Events > Union workers at Victoria Starbucks 'steaming mad' after missing wage increases

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https://www.cheknews.ca/unionized-workers-at-victoria-starbucks-steaming-mad-after-wage-increases-not-extended-to-location-1039686/

Workers at a Starbucks in Victoria are calling out Starbucks Canada after the company refused to extend wage increases to the unionized staff at the Douglas Street location.

Employees at the drive-thru store, located at 3180 Douglas St, say they are steaming mad after they received a letter informing them they would not receive increased wages, benefits and training that was being offered to other locations across the country.

A release sent from the United Steelworkers union the union that represents the workers at the Douglas Street Starbucks states that at the beginning of May, employees received an e-mail from Lori Digulla, Starbucks senior vice-president and general manager, saying there would be increased pay for all retail partners in every province and every role beginning this summer.

According to the union, that e-mail was followed up with an email to Douglas Street staff informing them they would not receive the partner investments as they were a unionized store.

The workers say the store has since sent an e-mail response to Digulla, expressing their disappointment that Starbucks was refusing to include the partners (employees) of the unionized store and called on the coffee giant to do the right thing by extending the wage increases to them.

We are delighted to see Starbucks taking steps to address the inability of many to afford a comfortable life. We agree that our labour is worth more and that higher wages will help us live with dignity and create the best moments with our customers, said the partners at the Douglas Street store.

Starbucks assured us that they would respect our choice to unionize. We feel that not agreeing with the union to extend the wage increase to our store is not respecting our choice. We understand and agree that our collective bargaining agreement must be respected. That is why there is a clause to allow for bilateral agreements for things such as extending the wage increase to our store.

The Douglas Street store voted to unionize back in the summer of 2020, voting to become part of United Steelworkers District 3, which represents over 50,000 workers in Western Canada.

The Douglas Street store, which is a corporate-owned Starbucks, was also the first location in Western Canada to unionize and in the last two years, more than 50 Starbucks stores in North America have voted to join unions.

Despite having successfully unionizing, the Douglas Street store feels that Starbucks Canada has engaged in anti-union tactics to discourage other employees from following suit.

If people want to unionize they have to take the good with the bad, the bad being sometimes non union employees get paid more. This is a common tactic across all industries with unions.

That's scummy, do they have recourse?

dolomedes posted...

lmao how do you fucking sleep at night

jesus

That's reality, not sure what to tell you.

I was pretty sure that part of being in a union is that the corporate entity can't just change your wages without negotiating with the union

Its up to the union to work out what you wage is going to be and to submit a contract with wages and your scale listed in that contract.

The union heads could probably negotiate with SB on something, but it has to be agreed on by both parties and written in to the contract.

With a non union employee you are subject to the overlords whims for better or worse. Overall the union is a better choice, but sometimes you miss out on things like this.

That's messed up, if I'm Canada I boycott Starbucks and stick with Hortons

DipDipDiver posted...

I was pretty sure that part of being in a union is that the corporate entity can't just change your wages without negotiating with the union

The corporation absolutely can pay non union employees more than union employees, it's called bargaining vs non bargaining. It's up to the bargaining employees (union) to work out wage negotiations and come to agreement whereas non bargaining employees are obviously at the whim of the corporation.

DipDipDiver posted...

I was pretty sure that part of being in a union is that the corporate entity can't just change your wages without negotiating with the union

I feel like this is what's at play. I remember my dad saying something like this during the brief period where he was part of the Teamster's union.