Barcroft Plaza Starbucks baristas vote to unionize
Employees at the Starbucks at Barcroft Plaza voted to unionize on July 7.
Nine of 15 eligible workers (baristas and shift supervisors) at the coffee shop at 6365 Columbia Pike voted to join Starbucks Workers United.
One of the baristas told Annandale Today their biggest complaint has to do with scheduling issues by a manager who wasn’t trained on the basics and didn’t listen to employees. That manager has been transferred to another Starbucks.
Schedules were changed without notice, said another barista, who noted a minor was assigned to open the shop at 4:30 a.m. He earns $17.09 an hour and started at $16. He works 32 to 38 hours a week.
Starbucks Workers United was launched in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2021. The union represents more than 12,000 baristas at nearly 700 locations in the United States.
The union is fighting for $17-an-hour starting wages for the lowest-paid baristas, 4% annual raises, reasonable scheduling, health and safety protections, and an end to union busting.
According to the union, “We’re understaffed, struggling to get by, and lack critical on-the-job protection. Starbucks wages start at $15.25 or $16/hour in 43 states.” Some baristas have to rely on SNAP, and “we often don’t get enough hours to pay rent or qualify for healthcare.”
Workers at the Starbucks at 3046 Gatehouse Plaza in Merrifield unionized in April 2022, becoming the first Starbucks in Fairfax County to do so. Workers at that shop formed a picket line in December as part of a nationwide strike.
Other unionized Starbucks in Northern Virginia are located at:
- 2200 Clarendon Blvd., Arlington,
- 8408A Old Keene Mill Road, Springfield,
- 11725 Route 29, Fairfax,
- 1438 Chain Bridge Road, McLean,
- 11610 Plaza America Drive. Reston,
- 21021 Southbank St., Sterling,
- 44185 Ashbrook Marketplace Plaza, Ashburn, and
- 526 E. Market St., Leesburg.
The Barcroft Plaza Starbucks was renovated in 2023.