Central Jersey DSA sends our congratulations to the Hopewell Starbucks workers on their union election victory! They filed for their election on January 11 and in the months since then, they’ve endured union busting in their own store and watched their partners across the country experience blatant retaliation and firings. Central Jersey DSA members have been inspired by their courage and resilience, and some have begun the process of organizing their own workplaces.
The Hopewell Starbucks workers join Starbucks workers all over the country that have filed and won their unions. As our comrades in Richmond DSA wrote after the first five Virginia stores won their union elections, “Working class organizing, often through unions, leads to undeniable material changes in peoples’ lives. These range from closing the racial and/or gender wage and wealth gaps to giving families access to stable housing and healthcare.”
Starbucks Workers United has filed more than 80 unfair labor practice complaints against the company, in response to Starbucks’ union busting and retaliation against outspoken union organizers. We echo the workers’ call to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to follow the Non-interference Principles to enable workers to organize without fear of intimidation.
If anyone in New Jersey wants to get started organizing at their workplace, please reach out to any of the NJ chapters of DSA. Workers deserve to have a say in their wages and working conditions – and if we fight, we win! #1U