January Bargaining Update
Hello BBIU baristas!
Yesterday, we wrapped up our January bargaining dates with Blue Bottle, where we presented our first proposals for our contract! The bargaining sessions this week followed a successful 8 minute walkout across three out of five of our unionized stores in the greater Boston area. We decided to take this action together at the general membership meeting held last week, Tuesday January 21.
We took this action in light of the company’s handling of the Prudential renovations, and believe that it is only through collective solidarity where we will be able to win concessions from the company. Many community supporters showed up to the cafes to ask how bargaining was going, tipped their baristas with cash, and expressed support for our union! You can read about it here.
At the end of the Tuesday meeting the company representatives gave us their non-economic proposals which included subjects such a so-called “management rights” clause, a no-strike clause, drug testing, and their proposed scheduling policy. The company did not respond to any of our economic proposals. The BBIU bargaining committee did not agree to any of the company’s proposals and we will continue our negotiations next month.
Here are some key differences between what we presented versus what Blue Bottle presented:
We presented a scheduling policy which is patterned off of “fair work week” policies that Blue Bottle already has to comply with in other markets, such as New York, Chicago, and parts of California. Our scheduling proposal would:
Make consistent set schedules available to any barista that requests one.
Blue Bottle to provide schedules 4-weeks in advance.
Require the Blue Bottle to provide at least twelve (12) hours between scheduled shifts, so as to avoid “clopening.” Should a barista be scheduled for a clopening shift, Blue Bottle would have to pay the barista additional money for the shift.
Make management responsible for finding coverage for call outs. Should management not be able to find coverage for a call out, the Company would evenly divide the amount of wages the employee who called out would have earned in their scheduled shift among the employees working during that time, according to the number of overlapping hours worked.
We asked for a staffing minimum of at least three (3) baristas at all times in order to make the workplace safer and to make it easier for the company to comply with their own break policies.
Blue Bottle’s “Hours of work-Workweek” policy makes no mention of scheduling practices or staffing minimums, but DOES define the workday as “unless otherwise agreed, is the twenty-four (24) hour period commencing with the Team Member's normal starting time.”
We presented a proposal which would require the company to enforce a zero-tolerance policy of harassment from customers. We presented proposals prohibiting:
Harassment from customers
Harassment and bullying in the workplace
Discrimination in the workplace based on based on protected characteristics including based on protected characteristics including, but not limited to, race, color, religion, religious creed, national origin, ethnicity , native language or dialect, ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, parental status, other familial status, pregnancy status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, veteran or military status, domestic violence victim status and any other consideration protected by federal, state or local law.
Blue Bottle did not present any proposals or counter-proposals that would protect workers from customer harassment.
Other proposals we presented included our demand for a living wage (based on data from the MIT living wage calculator), holidays, immigration rights, barista made playlists, and store meetings for where baristas would be able to discuss and make decisions about café operations.
Attached below are the documents exchanged during bargaining for you to reference.
Now that we are getting into contract negotiations it’s more important than ever to participate! Because of this you are invited to attend a BBIU General Meeting on Thursday, February 6th at 8:30pm on zoom! We will go more in depth on these issues and would like to hear from you about things you want to see in your contract and we need your feedback in order to prepare for our February bargaining dates! The February bargaining dates will be on the 20th and 21st and all BBIU members (that's you!) are welcome and encouraged to attend! More information will be coming your way about this in February.
We can only win our demands for changes in our wages, hours, and working conditions if we are engaged in solidarity with each other. Attending this meeting and sharing your thoughts, ideas, and vision for how we can win a living wage is a small first step to building that solidarity!
If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to us by emailing us or getting in touch with a union rep at your cafe!
Looking forward to talking with you all soon, solidarity forever!
