I am a Starbucks barista who doesn’t qualify for all the wonderful benefits you keep hearing about. We want the ‘different kind of company’ that Howard Schultz promised but failed to deliver

(Credit: Courtesy of Jasmin Leli)

I started working at Starbucks in December of 2021, one week after my store had its union election. I had no idea what I was walking into. I had seen the headlines about the Genesee Street and Elmwood Ave stores winning their union elections, the first Starbucks stores in the country to do so, but I had never heard of a union before–and I was intrigued to learn more about this historic victory.

While I was excited to work at a place that I had frequented as a customer, my start with Starbucks was rocky. I was trained for only a few days and I felt completely unprepared to start work as a barista. This was the first red flag.