Workers at seven Vancouver Starbucks locations have bolted from the Canadian Auto Workers Union, leaving the global coffee giant with just one unionized company-owned store -- in Regina.
The B.C. Labour Relations Board last week approved the results of a decertification vote at the seven Vancouver stores so the CAW no longer represents any Starbucks workers.
Even workers in the lone unionized Starbucks store in Regina have recently applied to be decertified from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Starbucks operates about 7,000 company-owned stores throughout the world.
CAW representative John Bowman said the union began organizing Vancouver Starbucks stores in 1996 and represented 12 stores and about 150 workers at one point. …show more content…
He said the union negotiated three collective agreements with Starbucks over the years but only succeeded in gaining improvements in job language and shift scheduling. Wages and benefits at the unionized locations never differed much from those at non-union stores.
The last seven Vancouver Starbucks to decertify from the CAW include 1645 Robson Street, 1752 Commercial Drive, 3451 Kingsway, 1395 Main Street, 811 Hornby Street, 1095 Howe Street and 1055 West Georgia (Royal Centre).
Bowman said high staff turnover rates at Starbucks affected union strength, as many of the workers who wanted the union ended up leaving after a year or two. He said apathy among service sector workers also hurt union efforts.
"For a lot of people in the service sector, their job is not a significant part of their life so they don't really care [about workplace issues]," Bowman said.
He said Starbucks is actually a "pretty good employer" by the "abysmal" standards of the service sector.
"But when you look at their profitability, they could actually pay their people a living wage and still make money but they don't do that," Bowman
The B.C. Labour Relations Board last week approved the results of a decertification vote at the seven Vancouver stores so the CAW no longer represents any Starbucks workers.
Even workers in the lone unionized Starbucks store in Regina have recently applied to be decertified from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Starbucks operates about 7,000 company-owned stores throughout the world.
CAW representative John Bowman said the union began organizing Vancouver Starbucks stores in 1996 and represented 12 stores and about 150 workers at one point. …show more content…
He said the union negotiated three collective agreements with Starbucks over the years but only succeeded in gaining improvements in job language and shift scheduling. Wages and benefits at the unionized locations never differed much from those at non-union stores.
The last seven Vancouver Starbucks to decertify from the CAW include 1645 Robson Street, 1752 Commercial Drive, 3451 Kingsway, 1395 Main Street, 811 Hornby Street, 1095 Howe Street and 1055 West Georgia (Royal Centre).
Bowman said high staff turnover rates at Starbucks affected union strength, as many of the workers who wanted the union ended up leaving after a year or two. He said apathy among service sector workers also hurt union efforts.
"For a lot of people in the service sector, their job is not a significant part of their life so they don't really care [about workplace issues]," Bowman said.
He said Starbucks is actually a "pretty good employer" by the "abysmal" standards of the service sector.
"But when you look at their profitability, they could actually pay their people a living wage and still make money but they don't do that," Bowman