Aunion vote at Coburg Coffee has tipped into uncertainty. Two pro-union baristas who cast ballots Monday afternoon say they’re confident the count went their way, however, of the 15 votes cast, they’re sure of only six that favour joining the Service Employees International Union.
Laura Spaetzel cast her ballot on top of a laundry machine in the cafe’s basement. In the week leading up to the vote, she and co-worker Sam Krawec noticed three new workers who are friends and family of the employers clocking in on days they weren’t scheduled. Nova Scotia SEIU organizer Sebastien Labelle says the union will challenge five of the ballots on the grounds they were not cast by current employees.
Cafe owner Kelly Irvine declined to comment Monday. In an email to staff dated June 5, she and co-owner Jane Merchant write that it’s important for every employee to vote, and caution against being “overly influenced” by the idea “that having a union will guarantee certain benefits.” “Have you considered whether the SEIU is an appropriate Union to be representing you, and whether they have any knowledge about the specific issues regarding Coburg Coffee?” the letter also reads.
The company is not perfect and there will be bumps along the way, but problems are best resolved “through a direct relationship with you and not through a third party,” the cafe owners write.
Staff began talking about a union last September, Krawec and Spaetzel say. Workers felt they couldn’t voice concerns to the employer, and they weren’t treated equally compared to the employers’ family members, who also work at the cafe. One employee was fired because of her personality, Spaetzel says. Coburg workers watched the recent labour action unfold at Second Cup and Just Us! and saw unionization as a solution.
The two baristas have worked on and off for years in the service industry while working on university degrees. Spaetzel estimates Coburg workers collectively have more than $100,000 in student debt. This reality combined with poor job prospects for young university grads in Halifax also precipitated their desire to unionize.
It’s been a tense few weeks at Coburg, but the unionization attempt has been tame so far compared to those at the Spring Garden Road Just Us! and Quinpool Road’s Second Cup last year. Unlike those two cafes, the Coburg owners have not fired anyone in relation to union activity, Labelle says, so there hasn’t been a need to organize protests.
As for Just Us! and Second Cup, Labelle acknowledges there has been staff turnover at both locations since the union votes. Workers have since clinched higher wages in their collective agreements: Second Cup workers received a 47 cent raise from minimum wage to $10.82. Just Us! will raise wages by 25 to 30 cents in December, and another 25 cents in 2015. Just Us! baristas currently make between $10.75 and $13.45 an hour depending on seniority.
“We’re doing this to improve Coburg Coffee as a business,” Labelle says, “so we’re asking people to go by Coburg Coffee, grab a cup of joe and voice support of union-served coffee.”
This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2014.
“Voice support of union-served coffee”? Seriously? Where do fools like this come from?
Bulletin: unless one of those employees is carrying $50,000 of debt or something, a collective $100,000 divided by a dozen or so students is an eminently reasonable amount of average debt to have after university.
This happened in Vancouver recently. Lots of people lost their jobs. http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/story/union-organizing-goes-diy-jj-bean/7922
Support from someone who has gone through a horrible labour dispute and gotten the short end of the stick when trying to organize. It’s hard work but I’m backing your efforts 100%.
I’m basing my opinion solely on my own experience and by what I’ve read above. So, clearly I’m biased/not totally informed. That said…
As someone who spent years working my butt off for the financial benefit of others, I understand why workers would want to unionize; however, I hope those in favour of unionizing realize what they might lose with the implementation of a union: an employer with the ability to admit when it’s wrong. Indeed, the “company [admitted it] is not perfect”. That says to me that the company is willing to work with its staff. Seriously, in my experience, employer humility is a rare thing. Anyway, best of luck to all involved.
It’s not the coffee shop’s responsibility to ensure their employees’ student debts get covered, it’s their responsibility to offer a reasonable wage for a low-skill requirement job. Unionizing is just going to push the business costs up.
Coburg can just fire everyone and hire a new batch of employees. They are next to Dalhousie ffs. Maybe if you didn’t spend so much money on shit-tattoos, you’d be able to afford your liberal arts degree.
When do the trust funds kick in?
Both Jane Merchant and Kelly Irvine are two of the most amazing women I have ever met in my life, they are kind and respectful and wouldn’t want anything less than equity for their employees. If they saw this necessary for their shop, and furthermore their extended family, they would have acted on it sooner. Students will be students, as one I understand the struggle, but it’s not my employers responsibility to help me escape my debt.. it is mine. This is the real world.
I’m not sure that “Coffee Barristers” should fall in the category of “skilled labour”. I for one have worked similar gigs, when I was their age. I’ve worked “unskilled” jobs while in post secondary schooling. I thought that was just part of life. I had to work retail / fast food while attending school to survive. I’ve eaten my share of KD & Mr Noodle. Now I enjoy steak and scallops. If you don’t want a shit job, go to school (don’t take arts like every other Joe/Jane doe). Find an industry that needs employees. learn a needed skill and get your foot in the door somewhere. I went back to school twice to get where I am now. is this Union going to ensure our “tea: single, single with milk” isn’t a “coffee: double double with cream”? that happens way too often to be a “skilled trade” in my opinion. What are the repercussions if this “professional unionized employee” puts in the wrong ingredients? Will the union fight for them, saying it’s confusing, or the employee was having a bad day, stop picking on them etc? Some employees are claiming nepotism, that’s called the real world, deal with it. do you think that doesn’t happen at nearly every workplace? Also, are you going to cry foul when the lazy unionized employee that has two days seniority on you gets promoted, simply because they’ve worked two more days than you? (no, not all unionized workers are lazy, but I’ve definitely witnessed this sort of thing) I’ve worked in both unionized and non unionized workplaces, and currently work in a non unionized work place. I’m all for fair wages, but also unskilled positions should be paid unskilled wages, and SKILLED workers should make skilled wages. My son who’s going to university this fall works at the theatre, not a glorious job by any means, but it is a job that gives him some spending money at the end of the day. Even he realizes he has to work a crap job until he becomes skilled. He makes minimum wage, and hey, he probably should. He wishes he made more money, but is smart enough to realize he has to work hard to get it (hence enrolled into university). Maybe they should have gotten into another industry, for instance, become a personal care worker (Shannex and Northwood, to name a couple are expanding like mad). Another option is working for an employer that invests in it’s employees, maybe your employer would pay some schooling for you, or be flexible enough to allow you to work and study at night / weekends. I took a management course while employed by a retailer, I was using the same text books as my friend who was attending STFX. It may have taken me a little longer, but I was able to still work, and eventually became a (trained) manager and made more money. I’ve left the retail industry, but even then, through hard work I was able to make a decent wage.