A Starbucks in Hillcrest is on track to become the first in the city of San Diego to unionize.
“The ball really started rolling, probably, last fall,” Saix Campbell, a shift supervisor who helped lead the effort, told NBC 7.
Campbell has worked at Starbucks for nearly five years, but two of those years were spent at the location in Hillcrest on University Avenue, between Vermont and Richmond streets.
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“Five years is a long time to be a barista,” Campbell said. “It is a very challenging place to work, but very rewarding in other ways as well.”
When Campbell first started working with the company, he told NBC 7, he felt like “an asset,” but that has since changed.
“There was a period of time where Starbucks treated its baristas and its shift supervisors like they were a net positive to the company, and then it just took a really 180-turn, and now it’s just like you’re a line-item expense that they need to, or can afford to, cut,” Campbell said.
Campbell said he tried once before to encourage his co-workers to join the Starbucks Workers United union, but it did not work out.
“I’ve always been pro-union,” Campbell said. “My mom started a union at her work when I was younger, and I just kind of remember a lot of that.”
Then, a few months ago, Campbell decided to try again.
“I had friends up in Seattle who unionized their store, and I saw that process and what they’re going through, and then I noticed a lot of stuff that was happening to them was also happening down here,” Campbell said.
Campbell started talking to his colleagues, referred to as Starbucks partners, about their experiences lately.
“ 'How do you feel about what’s going?' 'Would you like a way to try to fight for more hours?' ” Campbell said he asked them.
The majority of the team expressed interest in joining the union in the hopes it improves access to health insurance, guarantees more hours during the work week, makes scheduling easier to plan around and increases pay.
“I wanted a say," Campbell said. "I wanted my voice to be heard, and we have tried to have our voice heard over and over again through the proper chain of command, and we keep getting told their hands are tied and there’s nothing they can do,”
On Aug. 4, the Hillcrest location held a vote on whether to unionize. According to Campbell, the entire team showed up. In the end, it was 15-2 in favor of joining.
NBC 7 reached out to Starbucks for a response to the vote. They sent a statement that said, in part: ”We respect the right of all partners to make their own decisions about union representation, and we are committed to engaging in good faith collective bargaining for each store where a union has been appropriately certified.”
According to the spokesperson for the union, the National Labor Relations Board is expected to certify the vote within the next two weeks and doesn't anticipate any challenges. If the vote is certified, it will be the second Starbucks in San Diego County to unionize. A location in Encinitas voted to do so in May.
"I really love working for this company," Campbell said. "Like, I really loved it from the day that I started working here. I've seen them be better, and they just need to listen to their partners again."
More than 340 locations Starbucks have unionized in the United States, and more than 25 in California, according to the Starbucks Workers United website.
