The lady of the house stopped for her usual flat white at a nearby Starbucks, a treat for a week of working out. Opening the lid at home, she discovered it was only half full.
But the barista, one of the thousands of Starbucks workers who want to unionize, did print her name with floral flourishes and drew a smiley face on the to-go cup. For that, she paid nearly $6.
Perhaps a manager should have checked the barista’s work. Other Starbucks customers, too, have found frequent subpar service at the ubiquitous coffee chain.
The company’s baristas have complained about what they say are issues of understaffing, low pay, training, safe working conditions — after all they are working with boiling water — and benefits. It’s why employees in hundreds of company coffee shops across the nation have been organizing since 2021, when the first Starbucks in Buffalo, New York, sought union representation.
Starbucks has some 15,000 company and franchised stores in the U.S. During the labor drives, the company has consistently said it offers industry-leading benefits to its workers.
With Monday being Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer which has snuck up on many of us, and a salute to our laborers, unionization in areas considered not to be traditional workplaces — like coffee houses — is happening successfully. As another sign that fall is in view: Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte went on sale Aug. 26.
Labor Day was first marked in New York City in 1882, when an estimated 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march in solidarity. It became a national holiday in 1894, when President Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, signed into law a bill designating the first Monday in September a federal day off for workers.
From the hospitality industry to nonprofit organizations, to museums and e-commerce warehouses, 21st century workers are following in the historic footsteps of autoworkers (the United Auto Workers was founded in Michigan on Aug. 26, 1935), cigar makers, construction workers, coal miners and steelworkers — professions which helped build the nation’s one-time solid middle class — in molding a new union dynamic. Once the domain of high school kids, jobs at fast-food and casual dining outlets are now staffed mostly by adults.
Yet, participation in labor unions has declined in recent years in Illinois, although the state has seen an increase in overall unionization efforts. The “State of the Unions 2024” report authored by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the University of Illinois’ Project for Middle Class Renewal found 4,399 additional workers being covered by unions in 2023, down from 9,497 in 2022.
The percentage of the state’s workforce that is unionized dropped below 13% for the first time in the period surveyed. At 12.8%, Illinois had the 13th-highest unionization rate among all states.
Union members totaled 707,829 people in Illinois in 2023, down dramatically from nearly 847,000 in 2015, according to the report’s data. The Illinois unionization rate was 12.8% in 2023.
Illinois is surrounded by states — Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and Wisconsin — which have right-to-work laws. Unionizing efforts in those states showed success rates ranging from 7.1% to 8.8%.
Last year’s study found average hourly earnings in Illinois were $36.82 in 2023, compared to rates of $28.82 to $31.84 in the neighboring right-to-work states. Illinois, however, has a higher cost of living and tax rates than those states.
Nationally in 2023, the U.S. added 135,000 new union members after a gain of 277,000 union members in 2022, according to the report. At the same time, a recent Gallup Poll found that 67% of respondents viewed labor unions in a favorable light.
Illinois has long been a hotbed of labor union activism dating back to the 1880s. From the coalfields of Downstate “Bloody” Williamson County to Chicago’s Haymarket Riot of 1886 following strikes against the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co., to the strike and “riots” against the Pullman railroad car company in Chicago, state residents have been at the center advocating for labor rights.
Continuing that activism, many of the Starbucks outlets being unionized are in the Chicago region.
To salute labor and the generations it took to unionize the state’s workplaces, the annual Zion-Benton Labor Day Parade is scheduled to take place at 1 p.m., Monday. The parade route begins at Shiloh Park in Zion, and heads to Sheridan Road, south to 29th Street in the city.
Appropriately, the theme of this year’s parade is, “The Game of Life”.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
sellenews@gmail.com
X: @sellenews
