Blue Bottle coffee shops in the Bay Area have unionized, becoming the latest locations to be swept up in the wave of barista organizing that has surged across the U.S. in recent years.
In an election held by the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday, workers at Bay Area locations of the specialty coffee chain — three in Oakland and one in Berkeley — voted 22 to 5 in favor of joining Blue Bottle Independent Union.
The independent union won its first victory in May of last year when it unionized six locations of the Nestlé-owned chain in the greater Boston area.
The roughly 80 workers the union represents in Massachusetts will now be augmented by 37 workers at the four new union stores in California.
“We have growing ranks of baristas realizing they deserve better,” said Alex Pyne, 25, president of the Blue Bottle Independent union.
Blue Bottle spokesperson Annaliese Hazen said in a statement the company respected the right of workers to form a union.
“At the heart of our culture at Blue Bottle Coffee lies a profound commitment to care. While we believe in our ability to address the needs of our teams directly, we respect their right to union representation,” Hazen said.
Since a successful bid by Starbucks workers in Buffalo, N.Y., to unionize their store in late 2021, cafes have become a new, highly visible ground for organizing. Hundreds of Starbucks locations have unionized, as well as other smaller chains such as Gimme Coffee in Ithaca, N.Y., and Boba Guys in Los Angeles.
The broader restaurant industry is largely non-union, besides sub-industries such as hotel kitchens and airport and stadium concessions.
Blue Bottle union leaders said they chose not to affiliate their group with a large established union so as to maintain flexibility and control over how they organize stores. It’s a similar path taken by the independent Amazon Labor Union and Trader Joe’s United that formed in recent years.
The Bay Area Blue Bottle workers first announced their union drive in June.
The workers are seeking improved benefits and higher wages to address the high cost of living in the Bay area. At the Berkeley and Oakland stores, baristas start at $20.07 while shift supervisors start at $21.07, which workers said is not enough to make ends meet in the high-priced area.
They also cite the loss of such perks as holiday bonuses and a free weekly bag of coffee beans since Nestlé acquired a majority stake in 2017.
Workers also said they want more transparency with the company’s sourcing of coffee beans and display that shows prices of raw coffee, as well as Nestlé’s practices in other parts of the world.
“We are just workers standing up for themselves,” said Alex Reyes, a shift supervisor who has worked at the Berkeley store for eight years. “We want a seat at the table.”