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Blue Bottle Independent Union

@bbiunion

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We are an independent, rank-and-file led union fighting for living wages, democratic control of the workplace, and protection from harassment!

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I am writing to you with devastating news. This past Sunday Piper Milliken, a member of our bargaining team, executive board, and founding organizer of our union, died. She was 27 years old.

BBIU owes its existence in no small part due to Piper. She was instrumental in collecting union authorization cards, leading our walkout for recognition in 2024, and leading multiple strikes in 2025. Our union owes its vision to Piper’s dedication to class struggle, international solidarity, and trans rights.

As a trans woman, Piper knew firsthand that the struggle for trans liberation is inseparable from our struggle as a union. Trans people are often pushed into service work because we are systematically discriminated against in and outside of the workplace. The composition of baristas at Blue Bottle reflects this with 33% of BBIU members being trans. Trans people are far more likely than cisgender people to be unemployed, live in poverty, and live with food insecurity.

In the nearly four years that she worked at Blue Bottle, she dedicated countless hours to talking with coworkers, organizing cafés, attending bargaining sessions, and serving as a Weingarten representative. She was a fierce advocate and was acutely aware to how management’s tyranny affected her coworkers. I am personally thankful to her for the countless occasions that she served as a Weingarten representative for me in meetings with management.

Piper cared deeply about her coworkers. Every union meeting and bargaining session she was raising issues brought to her by her coworkers and sharing how much she knew we needed to fight for better. I loved hearing her tell stories about work, and I know that her coworkers at the Newbury location will miss her and her sense of humor.

It has been an honor and a privilege to organize alongside her. I wish that I could tell her that right now. May her memory be a blessing.

We will have updates in the coming days about a memorial service for her. We have gotten Blue Bottle to agree to close stores early on the day of the service should members choose to attend.

In solidarity,

Alex “Gonzo” Pyne by @bbiunion

It’s official!! Today workers at @bluebottle ‘s World Trade Center location announced their intent to join BBIU.

Having won our historic contract, baristas in NYC are joining our fight for livable wages, consistent scheduling, and protections from harassment.

To win meaningful changes to their working lives, World Trade Center baristas, will need our solidarity! Follow them @nyc.bbiu and stay tuned for updates.
@the.labor.force @coalitionofindependentunions @poweredbyion_ by @bbiunion

Four stores across the Bay Area in California have requested voluntary recognition from Blue Bottle Coffee today!! With a supermajority of support in Berkeley, Piedmont, M.C. Morse, and Old Oakland, we are prepared to take on Nestlé in order to win a livable wage, guaranteed scheduling, and affordable healthcare.

This makes ten unionized stores across the US that are entirely run and led by rank and filers!The countdown for recognition begins NOW. ⏰

Sign the petition to Blue Bottle's CEO demanding that the company voluntarily recognize the union. The last time Blue Bottle chose to ignore its workers, we walked out.

For other ways to support go to our website bluebottleunion.org 🩵☕️🏴🔥 by @bbiunion

Bryant Park Blue Bottle baristas have joined World Trade Center in their union drive! We are stronger together! DM us to get involved!

“When we vocalize our concerns and give feedback through traditional means…we aren’t listened to.”
- Emma
Barista, 1 year by @bbiunion

Comment “BLUE” below and we’ll DM you a link to demand Blue Bottle respect workers’ right to organize! #bluebottlecoffee #bbiu #unionbarista #nyc by @bbiunion

@bbiunion just won their first contract!!!!! let's GOOOOOOO!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 by @bbiunion

Ian O'Hara was wrongfully terminated from his job as a Blue Bottle Coffee barista in NYC. The city just helped him win a settlement. #bluebottlecoffee #workerpower by @bbiunion

Our bargaining team met with the company on August 11 and 12 to continue our negotiations for a strong first contract.

The company provided our union with what they claim is their last, best, and final offer on economics, which includes:

1. Wage increases totaling nearly 7% for the life of the contract for all positions.

2. Bereavement leave which is inclusive of chosen family

3. Boston will receive three new holidays, including recognition of Juneteenth, bringing the total to 11 holidays per year.

Our bargaining team has not yet provided the company with a response of whether or not we will accept their offer. We will be holding information sessions over zoom to answer any questions about the company’s final offer on:

Wednesday, August 19 @ 8:30pm EST

Thursday, August 20 @ 8pm EST

Attendance is highly encouraged. Our bargaining team will also be soliciting feedback with a short survey.

It is a testament to our power that our union has been able to force Blue Bottle to enter into a collective bargaining agreement at all. Blue Bottle has spent the past two years frantically scrambling to claw back power from their baristas by engaging in ardent union-busting. The concessions we’ve won from Blue Bottle reflect a long and hard fought battle over who controls the workplace.

Not only have we come close to winning a contract, we have been able to secure far more non-economic wins than any first contract for a coffee shop reviewed by our union’s bargaining team. The current economic offer presented to our union’s bargaining team is comparable to economic packages recently ratified by other coffee unions.

Crucially, we did this as an independent union! We have forced our employer to the table with no power but our collective solidarity. Without the backing of a larger union, political party, or government agency we forced a company owned by Nestlé to make major concessions to us. by @bbiunion

CAUSE activist and organizer Italo Medelius-Marsano is on a hunger strike against Amazon’s brutalization of workers, and the deaths at Amazon warehouses nationwide.

Please repost and share widely to spread the word about Italo’s hunger strike and Amazon’s mistreatment of workers.

CAUSE is a worker-led union of Amazon workers currently organizing Amazon facilities across North Carolina.

The demands of this hunger strike are:
-changing Amazon’s inhumane policy of encouraging workers not to call 911 in medical emergencies, and report to in-house wellness staff instead
-Amazon agreeing to CAUSE’s demand for open town halls for workers to have the opportunity to ask questions of union leaders and company officials about unionization
-for Amazon to come to the table to negotiate a contract with the Amazon Labor Union in Staten Island, instead of its unlawful delaying.

This video was filmed on day 16 of a 40 day strike.

#peopleoverpackages #organizeamazon #workerpower #hungerstrike by @bbiunion

Comment "BLUE" ⬇️⬇️⬇️and we'll DM you a link to demand @bluebottle pay its unionized baristas a fair and livable wage!

#bluebottlecoffee #bayarea #boston #barista #livingwage by @bbiunion

Our union made significant progress at the bargaining table this month. We reached a tentative agreement on all remaining non-economic terms and won dramatic union rights, including the ability to conduct orientation meetings with new hires.

We also received the company’s economic package. Their offer is laughable.

For Boston, their wage offer includes:

A 45 cent wage increase in the first year for baristas, and a 6.8% wage increase over the life of the contract.

A 70 cent wage increase for shift leads in the first year, and a 6.7% increase over the life of the contract.

For the East Bay, their wage offer includes:

A 25 cent wage increase in the first year for baristas, with a 5.3% increase over the life of the contract

A 79 cent wage increase for shift supervisors in their first year. However, the company’s wage offer is regressive because they offered our union a 7% wage increase for shift supervisors in the East Bay in June.

These wage offers are deeply unserious considering that the company is not providing any offer to improve other benefits. Nor is the company willing to commit to securing currently existing benefits during the life of the contract.

Further, the company wants to maintain “sole discretion over compensation that exceeds base hourly rates,” which our union views as a coy way for them to take away the incentive pay structure which exists in Boston. Maintaining sole discretion over wages and benefits is antithetical to the point of a contract and would allow the company to continue engaging in gross favoritism.

The company’s offer is so far removed from a serious offer to provide wages and benefits which baristas can live on that it warrants no response. The inflation rate between 2024 (when our union won recognition) and today has been 6.5%. Meaning, that baristas in Boston would need to earn $19.17/hr to have the same purchasing power that they did back in 2024!!

It’s insulting that they expect our union to agree to bad faith economic offers which allow them to change benefits during the life of the contract. by @bbiunion

Lots of wins during this month’s bargaining session!

We secured core demands including:
1. Minimum hours for part timers.
2. A clear attendance policy
3. Protections from layoffs, subcontracting, & customer harassment
4. Meetings twice a year to bring up issues and push for more change.
5. A limited & narrow “management rights”

Ahead of this month’s bargaining session, 84% of members voted to authorize our union to call a strike at any moment.

Should Blue Bottle choose to return to bad faith negotiating, insult our membership, or commit any other unfair labor practices, our union is ready and willing to strike!!
We are preparing to go for longer than ever in order to secure wages which baristas can live on.

25% of Blue Bottle baristas rely on SNAP to afford groceries. Another 25% of baristas financially provide for dependents. Blue Bottle’s wages are untenable and forces many into a Dickensian existence.

For our union to win wages that we can live on we need to demonstrate that substantial increases to wages will be cheaper for Blue Bottle than delaying reaching an agreement.

Donate to our strike fund to help our union WIN!

secure.actblue.com/donate/bbiu-strike?refcode=insta by @bbiunion