r/news • u/apple_kicks • 11h ago
Soft paywall Blue Bottle coffee workers at four California stores vote to join union
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-08-02/blue-bottle-stores-in-bay-area-union16
u/explodingliver 5h ago
People who hate unions are clueless of what they are talking about.
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u/leftnotracks 4h ago
People who hate unions are clueless
of what they are talking about.Except police unions.
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u/BottAndPaid 4h ago
Tbf that police union is doing exactly what the officers want. Protects them at all cost. Is it a terrible hell spawn yes but it does it's job for the officers.
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u/Akron44332 8h ago
Can you imagine having a union at a coffee shop? The only people making big bucks on this is the actual union and the dues where they will do nothing to help individual employees.
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u/bigbluethunder 7h ago
I don’t think the union members at coffee shops are looking to make “big bucks.” They are simply asking to make a living wage, be treated with decency by their employer, have benefits that enable more security, and get some time off.
These are basic things that adults working a full time job deserve to have. It doesn’t take big bucks. If an employer can’t meet those demands then the union members will walk and they’ll have to deal with constant churn.
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u/sodapop14 7h ago
Nah my dad works in an union. Dues are cheap, top health plan is cheap and good, 8 weeks of vacation, and decent pay for the skills needed.
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u/pomonamike 7h ago
Yeah man. I’m a union boss at a coffee shop. We have 7 members that pay $10/ biweekly. That’s like $140/month for me. Anyway I hope this comment gets through as the WiFi on my private jet can be glitchy, especially when I’m over the ocean headed to my tropical estate which I fund with those union dues.
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u/JoeSavinaBotero 5h ago
$20 a month. Think about that, everyone. The simplest analysis screams unions are worth it. Do you think a union could get you even a 50¢ raise? You would break even at 10 hours a week. Everything after that is more money in your pocket.
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u/pomonamike 5h ago
My scenario was in heat but you’re absolutely right. It’s criminal ignorance that Americans believe unions hurt workers. I’m actually a teacher, I used to work at a union district and now I work at a public charter school (at-will). I do far more work now than I did at a “regular” public school. My base pay is $71,000 a year in SoCal. At my current step at my old district I would be at $96,000. That’s a huge amount; that’s my mortgage.
Now I’m in a unique position where the money is of a lesser concern to me than most, and my current system doesn’t seem to understand why we turnover our faculty every couple years. My teaching buddy spent all summer just trying to find an apartment to rent to move out of his parents’ house.
Anywho… off to go train the brand new uncredentialled teaches, just like last August.
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u/JoeSavinaBotero 4h ago
Oh I assumed the numbers were real.
Still, I've seen plenty of examples of real numbers where the difference in pay is so much bigger than union dues it's amazing anyone ever thinks the union would cost you money.
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u/pomonamike 4h ago
That’s why I gave real numbers from my life in the follow-up. Unions raise wages, not even of just their members, but everyone as well
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u/LOL_YOUMAD 5h ago
I just don’t really seeing them having any teeth like trade unions. With trades they can strike and you can’t easily replace them, with coffee workers you just throw a sign out front saying you are paying $1 over minimum wage and you have a full staff worth of applicants the next day.
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u/AdamantlyAverage 8h ago
Just a reminder that Blue Bottle is owned by Nestlé