‘Strong precedent’: Union workers at Waterloo Starbucks get first collective agreement

In what their union calls “a strong precedent” for other Starbucks locations, the workers at the Uptown Waterloo coffee shop are celebrating their first collective agreement with their employer.

A statement from The United Steelworkers (USW), District 6, says, “The arbitration ruling sets a strong precedent for USW members at other Starbucks locations who are seeking to reach collective agreements, as well as for the union’s ongoing efforts to expand union representation for workers in the coffee industry.”

District 6 Director, Kevon Stewart, says the key issue in the bargaining was shift borrowing, where employees can move their scheduling around with other Starbucks stores.

Stewart says that practice will continue in the new collective agreement.

USW says the Uptown Waterloo store becomes the first of five Starbucks locations they represent in Ontario to reach a collective agreement.

The Steelworkers also represent workers at Fairway Plaza in Kitchener, and at the Conestoga Mall Indigo store in Waterloo.

That union says the collective agreement for the Uptown Waterloo workers was handed down in a decision by a provincial government arbitration board.

The Uptown Waterloo workers joined the union in May 2023.

“Starbucks has always been committed to bargaining in good faith. Our focus is to create the best possible experience for our partners, customers, and communities, and we will continue to do so, while respecting this process and the Arbitrator’s decision,” said a spokesperson for Starbucks Canada in response to 570 NewsRadio.