Grinding on stagnating wages, baristas at Via Lido Starbucks in Newport Beach petition to form union

Employees at the Starbucks on Via Lido in Newport Beach became among the latest to organize for better working conditions and compensation from one of the world’s most recognizable corporations by submitting a petition to unionize last week.

The petition was filed Saturday, organizers at Starbucks Workers United said in a news release. It sets the stage for a vote of about 15 baristas at the Newport Beach location who could potentially be represented by the union.

The petition comes in response to stagnating wages that have failed to keep up with inflation, said Mia Visiconti, a shift lead who has worked at the Via Lido location for six years. She commutes from Huntington Beach and is going to school to earn an industrial certificate, partly because she says she can’t afford to pursue a degree in environmental sciences at a four-year university.

“They’re giving us a little bit of a pay cut while the executives are making millions, hundred million dollars a year,” she said. “And the people around me are on food stamps or can’t move out of their parents’ homes.”

Via Lido Starbucks shift lead Mia Visconti poses for a photo Wednesday with an apron bearing pins supporting efforts to unionize baristas at the multinational corporation.

(Eric Licas)

She added that current procedures don’t give workers an adequate say on discipline, promotions and other management decisions directly impacting them and their store. Visconti noted that one barista who had been promised a promotion was passed over due to scheduling issues, even though multiple other shift leads stepped forward and offered to adjust their working hours so she could upgrade her position.

Another employee she described as a hard worker — who attends classes at two different college campuses — recently had their hours cut, disqualifying them from benefits.

A date for a vote to unionize the Via Lido location had not yet been set, Visconti said. If their bid to organize does pass, workers there would join 11,000 other baristas at 550 locations spread across 45 states and the District of Columbia who have done so.

Starbucks Workers United and Starbucks Corp. had been negotiating a contract for the better part of 2024. But talks broke down in December over economic issues like pay and benefits. The two sides have agreed to work with a mediator to find a path forward.

“We have made progress over the last nine months of bargaining, and we are committed to continuing to work together — with a mediator’s assistance — to navigate complex issues and reach fair contracts,” representatives for Starbucks Corp. said in a statement Thursday.

About 5,000 baristas in California and 42 other states walked off the job last Christmas Eve in protest. Workers United submitted 90 unfair labor practices complaints in January. They allege the company has closed locations that have attempted to organize, targeted pro-union employees for excessive discipline over minor issues, cut hours and performed other forms of retaliation.

Representatives for the company say they respect employees’ right to organize.

“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,” a company spokesperson said.