A Buffalo Starbucks Worker Talks About Why He Wants a Union
A conversation with Brian Murray, one of the Buffalo workers, and journalist Jordan Chariton, who recently traveled to Buffalo to speak with Starbucks workers.
Maximillian Alvarez
Starbucks is the world’s largest coffeehouse chain and one of the most recognizable consumer brands in existence. In the US alone, Starbucks has nearly 9,000 corporate-owned stores, and not a single one of them is unionized. But that may be about to change. After leading an organizing campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic and facing tireless efforts by the company to delay, deflate, and defeat union elections with the National Labor Relations Board, workers at three Starbucks locations in Buffalo, New York, have submitted their ballots, which are being counted as we speak. In this mini-cast, we talk with Brian Murray, one of the Buffalo workers and organizers with SBWorkers United, and journalist Jordan Chariton, who recently traveled to Buffalo to speak with Starbucks workers and report on their fight for Status Coup.
Additional links/info below…
- SBWorkers United website, Twitter page, and Instagram
- GoFundMe: Starbucks Retaliates Against Whistleblower
- Jordan’s Twitter page
- Status Coup website, Twitter page, and YouTube channel
- Sean Collins, Strikewave, ““It’s about having a democratic voice in Starbucks.” Interview with Brian Murray of SBWorkersUnited”
- Noam Scheiber, The New York Times, “As Starbucks Workers Seek a Union, Company Officials Converge on Stores”
- Ahiza García-Hodges, NBC News, “Former Starbucks CEO Uses Holocaust Analogy to Describe Coffee Company’s Mission”
Permanent links below…
- Working People Patreon page
- Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
- Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
- In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
- The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)
- Jules Taylor, “Working People Theme Song”
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Maximillian Alvarez is editor-in-chief at the Real News Network and host of the podcast Working People, available at InTheseTimes.com. He is also the author of The Work of Living: Working People Talk About Their Lives and the Year the World Broke.
