Tamalpais HS Student Leads Starbucks Unionization Push: Reports

MILL VALLEY, CA — A 17-year-old Tamalpais High School student is leading the campaign to unionize a Mill Valley Starbucks.

Ella Clark earns $16 an hour as a barista at the Starbucks in the Strawberry Village Shopping Center, where a National Labor Relations Board vote is scheduled for June 6. Clark told the San Francisco Chronicle that she was inspired to join the growing wave of unionization in her U.S. history class.

“When I first reached out to Starbucks Workers United looking for ways to help out, we were learning about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire,” she told the Chronicle, in an interview that is available to listen to on the Extra Spicy podcast. “It was just really, really cool to kind of be like, Oh my gosh, this relates to me. This is something that I can be a part of and that I am currently a part of.

Clark said she was also inspired by recent successful votes in Santa Cruz and Buffalo to join Starbucks Workers United. Starbucks workers have voted to unionize in more than 50 locations in the U.S. as of May 3, and dozens more votes are scheduled. Unions have won 80% of votes taken, according to the Huffington Post. In California, only two Starbucks in Santa Cruz are currently unionized.

Clark, along with her 17-year-old colleague Emma Orrick, is fighting for increased starting wages, extra pay when the store is short staffed, access to tips made by credit and debit cards, more extensive COVID pay, better health insurance, and the option to not accept mobile orders when the store is busy.

Out of 17 voting members at the store, over half have signed union cards for an upcoming election, Clark told the San Francisco Examiner.

Some Starbucks locations have taken forceful steps to prevent unionization, like forcing workers to attend presentations trying to convince them not to unionize. CEO Howard Schultz said that non-union members would receive a raise and unionized members would not, according to the New York Times. The Times also reported that the NLRB found Starbucks and Amazon guilty of violating labor law through union-busting.

Clark said that she is happy at her job, and her location sent her a letter from regional managers saying they were available to speak, and giving reasons why she should vote no. Still, Clark said hearing reports of union busting inspired her to inquire about unionization efforts.

“The way that Starbucks was trying to unionize and shut down these unions really spoke to me, because I believe that we have rights as workers, as human beings, as a woman, I have rights,” she told The Chronicle. “It really bothers me when people's rights are infringed upon.”