For two years, Blue Bottle coffee chain workers have been fighting for a fair union contract. And right now, they are THIS CLOSE to the finish line. The only outstanding issue is the one that matters to them most: wages.
That’s because Blue Bottle doesn’t pay its workers enough to cover the basics. One out of four Blue Bottle baristas are on SNAP so they can afford to eat. That’s the same percentage of workers on SNAP that you’ll find at Amazon.
The company’s wage offers so far have been so far from a livable wage that they are laughable. For example, MIT calculates the living wage (defined as the wage a full-time worker must earn to support themselves and/or their family) for a Blue Bottle worker living alone in Boston as $32.46. But Blue Bottle’s offer increases wages for baristas in the first year by only 45 cents, bringing them up to just $18.45 per hour.
That gap is unacceptable. Blue Bottle workers deserve more, and they are going to fight until they win wages that actually cover their bills, wages that will change their lives.
Blue Bottle Independent Union is worker-founded, worker-led, and completely independent. They’ve come this far in their contract fight because workers are willing to take action to get what they deserve, from walking out to marching on the boss to going on strike.
They’ve also come so far because of the support of this community. For two years, y’all have sent letters, made phone calls, and chipped in to the union’s strike fund.
In Solidarity,
The Labor Force