Starbucks staff in Rochester 1st in NH to vote to unionize: This is what workers want

ROCHESTER — Holly Bogardus, a shift supervisor at Starbucks who also works as a school teacher, has become increasingly frustrated with issues such as not getting promised hours.

This has led Bogardus and her coworkers at the Rochester store at The Ridge Marketplace to become the first Starbucks in New Hampshire to petition to unionize. They are joining an effort that has spread nationally at Starbucks stores while the company faces charges of breaking labor laws and scrutiny in the U.S. Senate.

“We've had a lot of issues at our store that we've always had a hard time getting addressed," Bogardus said. "We've seen the differences it's made for the stores that have won their union votes, it just really made us feel like this is the best course of action for us. Especially as we've attempted to solve problems through Starbucks channels, and we just haven't seen any change or improvement or felt listened to."

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The Associated Press recently reported 293 of Starbucks’ 9,000 company-owned U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late 2021, citing National Labor Relations Board statistics. Starbucks Workers United, the group seeking to unionize stores, has yet to reach a contract agreement with the company at any Starbucks store.

“It's scary to be the first one (in New Hampshire),” Bogardus said. “But we're really excited and we're hoping that this will help other stores realize that this is something that they can do if they're feeling the same way and having the same problems.”

What do Starbucks workers want in Rochester?

Bogardus has been at Starbucks for four years, beginning as a barista for $13 per hour before becoming a supervisor, currently earning $20 per hour. But the workers' complaints aren't focused on hourly wages.

Bogadus said Starbucks workers in Rochester are typically promised a certain number of hours per week, but within the first two weeks of working, their hours are cut in half on average, she said. Bogardus’s sister, Haley Bogardus, who works as a barista at the Rochester Starbucks, agreed, saying workers who were told they will be full-time are often getting only 20 hours per week.

Holly Bogardus said because she is a teacher at a local elementary school, she has requested to work the later closing shifts.

“Despite other shift supervisors having a preference not to close the store, I have noticed that my evening shifts are being taken away and given to other supervisors with no real explanation,” she said.

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Holly Bogardus added that in order to qualify for benefits, workers are required to work a minimum of 20 hours per week. However, workers who have signed up for benefits are often not scheduled a full 20 hours, despite promises.

This leaves them “scavenging” for hours, she said. “Even on people's time off they're really anxious, kind of waiting and trying to be ready to go in if they need to because they need the hours for their benefits.”

She said at times when she has put in for sick time, management takes those hours out of her vacation time instead.

“They really don't follow their own policies on using sick time,” said Holly Bogardus. “If you request time off ahead of time saying, ‘I have a doctor's appointment, I'm letting you know, so you can have coverage', they won’t approve your sick time. Basically, you just have to call out that day. And then you get the retaliation as well.”

She said workers who call out sick have been told they are hurting their coworkers.

“So there's just a lot of emotional abuse that's attached to the way that they've been managing lately,” she said.

Bogardus’s sister, Haley, said workers would like to see better staffing, more training and better-working equipment.

“We want just to have any kind of meaningful input into how this individual store is run,” Haley Bogardus said. “We have a better perspective than someone who's only been here once or twice every other month.”

Tanner Armstrong, another shift supervisor, said, “We want to feel like we matter and that our work means something because we can see that from the customers, but from upper management, we are really disposable, and our livelihoods are at stake."

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Where does local union effort fit in with bigger picture for Starbucks nationally?

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz repeatedly denied the company has broken any laws when he testified before a U.S. Senate committee last week.

The National Labor Relations Board has filed more than 80 complaints against Starbucks for violating federal labor laws, USA Today reported. Charges included the illegal firing of Starbucks workers for working to form a union, employees collectively bargaining for benefits, and advocating for increased wages and better working conditions. There have been an additional 500-plus unfair labor practice charges against the company, according to the Senate committee.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont urged Schultz to promise the company will promise to the committee that the company will exchange proposals with the union. Schultz did not make that promise, stating, "On a single store basis, we will continue to negotiate in good faith."

What steps are Starbucks workers taking?

Starbucks Workers United announced the local unionizing effort Monday, stating the Rochester workers are "standing in solidarity with nearly 300 union stores and more than 8,000 baristas organizing for better working conditions" and "joining the fight against Starbucks’ hour cuts, inadequate staffing, disregard of partner safety, and refusal to bargain with the union in good faith."

The Rochester workers sent a letter to new Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan to inform him of their unionization effort. According to the labor group's press release, the letter states, in part, “Time and time again appeals to management and the company made in good faith have been met with scorn, informal reprimands, and outright retaliation to such an extent we see no way forward without making space for ourselves in the process.”

The letter states workers seek a voice in how the store is run, want training and wages that reflect their "essential" status. Workers also are asking for "steady hours that guarantee we will actually be able to access the robust benefit packages the company boasts, which have in practice become an incredibly stressful thing to maintain."

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Starbucks workers in Rochester first in NH to vote to unionize