Starbucks’s new commitment to work with its main union to end hostilities and hash out a fair process for labor organizing is a landmark moment for labor relations — both at the coffee chain that’s long resisted organizing, and far beyond it.
On Tuesday, the company and the Starbucks Workers United union announced that they were beginning discussions meant to secure collective bargaining agreements and resolve litigation. As part of that announcement, Starbucks said it will start providing Workers United’s members with benefits, such as credit-card tipping, that it previously restricted to nonunion stores.
The company will also provide back pay to workers for money they lost by being excluded from such perks since 2022, according to people familiar with the agreement. And rather than bargaining only cafe-by-cafe, the company will also meet at a single table to negotiate with baristas from around the country about how to handle common issues, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the still-developing situation.