College Park Starbucks employees joined Starbucks Workers United, a nationwide union, to fight for better working conditions.

Workers at the Starbucks in the College Park Shopping Center unanimously voted to unionize in December, after months of gathering information and coordinating between employees, according to shift supervisor MJ Matava. Employees are seeking increased wages and benefits in accordance with the growing cost of living, consistent scheduling and fair dispute resolutions.

Many of the employees at the College Park Starbucks are University of Maryland students, including Matava and other members of the location’s union organizing committee.

“It’s very important to me that the people that I work with, that I care about very deeply, that are the face of the company, receive the benefits and the treatment that they deserve as the people keeping the store running,” Matava, a senior English and Spanish major, told The Diamondback.

Most of the employees’ grievances stem from corporate policies, Matava said. One of the workers’ main concerns is not having enough employees working at a given time.

“We didn’t have the people needed on the floor to make our jobs, not necessarily easier, but functional,” Matava said. “It feels that we receive less and less labor despite sales increasing over time.”

Being short staffed leads to longer wait times for food and drinks, according to Matava. Customers sometimes have to wait up to 45 minutes, they said.

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Barista and organizing committee member Josie Cloutier said the employees also want more guidelines that emphasize the safety of employees and allow them to refuse unsafe work.

Last year, the drains behind the bar — where baristas make drinks — were flooding, but employees were still required to work despite the rising water, the junior public science major said.

Starbucks is committed to ensuring employees feel safe and supported at work, according to a statement from Starbucks spokesperson Phil Gee to The Diamondback.

“We respect our partners’ right to choose, through a fair and democratic process, to be represented by a union or not to be represented by a union and will continue to work together to make Starbucks the best job in retail,” the statement read.

Starbucks routinely reviews the customer and employee experience, and works with “deep care and urgency” when store issues conflict with the wellbeing of Starbucks staff, according to the statement.

Starbucks recently started offering drinks in glass cups to in-person customers, which has prompted additional safety concerns for employees in College Park, Matava said. It’s important for the store to provide personal protective equipment for workers who have to clean up and dispose of broken glass, they said.

Store employees are also focused on preventing discrimination against disabled workers, workers of color and LGBTQ+ workers, according to Matava. This includes ensuring the dress code accounts for different hair types, they added.

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The idea of unionizing had been “floating around” among College Park Starbucks employees for the past two years, according to Cloutier.

The majority of employees being close in age made it easier for the store to come together and form a union, Matava said.

“It’s important to be able to actually make change in the workplace and have my voice be heard,” Cloutier said. “It was nice to get to connect with the other employees at the store, and actually come together and start working to make a positive change for our store.”

Moving forward, employees want to spread more information about the union by leafleting at other nearby Starbucks stores and staying in touch with Starbucks Workers United, according to Cloutier. For now, employees want to continue to talk to their regulars about the union and encourage them to ask questions, Matava said.

“UMD Starbucks is a pretty close knit store, both in terms of staff and customers,” Matava said. “We’re very familiar with our regulars. We know people’s majors.”

Bianca Romano, a senior public health science major and Starbucks regular, has experienced long wait times of up to 45 minutes at Starbucks. She emphasized her support for the employees who unionized.

“I think the people who know what’s best for businesses are typically the people who are working there and experience the operations day to day,” Romano said. “If they feel that would be the right decision to better help the customers who are coming in and provide a better customer experience, I say, ‘Totally sounds great to me.’”