Latest / Coffee People Podcast / RECAP: Alex Pyne, President of the Blue Bottle Independent Union

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RECAP: Alex Pyne, President of the Blue Bottle Independent Union · Coffee People Podcast

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  Hey everyone, welcome to the Coffee People Podcast recap
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  show. Thank you for being here and
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  being a supporter of our Coffee People platform.
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  I'm your host, Ryan Wolt. You can follow or subscribe to
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  our show wherever you're listening, but you'll only find
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  Again, that's rostar.com. Our recent podcast guest Alex
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  Pine is a barista at Blue Bottle Coffee in New England and also
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  the president of the Blue Bottle Independent Union, or BBIU.
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  They've been negotiating with Blue Bottle Coffee and by
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  extension their parent company Nestle, for a labor contract for
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  quite some time. There's a bit of ambiguity in
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  the situation as numerous outlets have reported that Blue
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  Bottle is up for sale. If you want to listen to the
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  full interview, the link is in the show notes or on our At
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  Coffee People Podcast YouTube channel.
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  I'm here to recap a bit of that episode if you didn't have a
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  chance to listen to the full pod or you're just looking for the
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  reinforcement of a few important key takeaways.
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  For example, Alex Pine's appearance is directly related
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  to a Blue Bottle public relations person reaching out to
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  me about having an executive on the show.
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  And I agreed that it would be an interesting conversation, but on
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  the condition that I could ask questions about the Blue Bottle
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  union negotiations. I did indicate they could choose
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  not to answer or avoid the question or, you know, however
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  they wanted to respond. Our show isn't live, but I was
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  going to ask. In retrospect, they politely
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  decided to decline the invitation.
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  During that back and forth, I reached out to the BBIU and
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  their president, Alex did not. So on to Alex Pine is our guest.
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  He got his start in coffee, like so many others at Starbucks,
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  where he was drawn into the culture of coffee and education
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  of coffee and you know, being a barista, which is like being
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  part of a team. The rumblings of unionization
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  were already taking place when he joined Blue Bottle and
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  immediately he was drawn to being part of an organization
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  movement, effusively I might add.
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  There was some local precedent as nearby locations of coffee
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  chains were already representing what a union action could look
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  like. So what is a union?
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  It's a collective of workers who band together as a broader
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  negotiation group when addressing working conditions
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  with their employer. Things like pay, benefits,
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  scheduling, and the need for cause based terminations instead
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  of at will work, and of course much more.
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  Each unionizing effort is unique, although some industries
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  have larger established unions to create a more unified
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  workforce. For example, the auto Workers
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  Union or the medical workers at Kaiser Permanente.
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  According to Alex, the first phase of their union building
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  was to have conversations with their colleagues, get together
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  and have a cup of coffee, social gatherings to better understand
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  what everyone was hoping for. In exchange for supporting A
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  unionization effort, they needed to create a majority consensus
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  on their goals. They could have jumped right
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  into the second step, which was to have an election as dictated
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  by the National Labor Relations Board.
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  But before holding that election, they went directly to
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  the Blue Bottle ownership to request recognition of their
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  majority employee group. But they were rebuffed at that
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  point. They elected to pursue that
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  recognition through the NLRB. Elected.
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  See what I did there? So the question I have for Alex
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  is this. If a collective bargain group
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  can negotiate for higher wages and better working conditions,
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  why would someone be anti union? His impressions lean toward
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  confusion over what the union does, the fear of retaliation by
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  management through reduced hours or even termination, or the
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  closing of a coffee shop in favor of one that isn't
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  unionizing. But it's hard to generalize the
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  pros and cons. Some arguments long used against
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  unionizing efforts include creating challenges to rise to
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  the ranks if seniority is a strong union consideration, the
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  paying of dues for representation, dues you may not
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  want to pay, the potential for creating an adversarial
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  relationship with the ownership or management.
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  And finally, the more a union grows, the more their
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  administration grows, the more power they have.
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  That can be good if the leadership is representing their
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  members and creating an open culture.
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  But like any organization, there can be a diverse range of
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  opinion, expectation, and local perspective that challenged the
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  ability of the union to be concise in their demands and
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  supportive of all of its members.
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  The BBIU is an independent union, and they're still
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  relatively small. Alex hopes that they grow, but
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  for now, their size makes it easier to maintain a unified
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  stance, which I assume also makes it easier for their
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  volunteer management to go to the mattresses on behalf of
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  their members. So the big question if Nestle
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  sells Blue Bottle, how does it impact the union?
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  The answer is unknown, and we'll stay that way as long as a
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  contract has not been agreed upon between the two sides,
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  which may or may not happen anytime soon.
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  The NLRB requires that the two sides meet to discuss the
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  contract, but they do not require that they come to a
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  resolution for that first employment contract or any
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  employment contract. The hope is that the two sides
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  are negotiating in good faith, but in theory one side could
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  easily drag the meetings out basically indefinitely.
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  You might ask what is the BBI you asking for?
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  Well for starters, a living wage or in the range of $30.00 an
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  hour for the store in the higher income locations, a more
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  consistent working schedule and protections from customer
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  harassment. The two sides have already
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  agreed on just cause protections against termination and added
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  protection for immigrant workers.
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  It's important to note that Alex isn't doing this alone, but he
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  is motivated to pursue this effort because he cares about
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  his coworkers. Even if he doesn't receive any
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  benefit in the long run, he believes this unionizing effort
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  will help create safe and foundational workspaces where
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  workers have rights. I wondered about the money.
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  Who pays for all of the union efforts?
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  There are lawyers and strikes and paperwork on and on.
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  For now, a pro bono legal support system is helping their
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  campaign. The board members are all
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  volunteers who've never been paid.
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  Some employees pay dues, but they are voluntary.
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  All in all, there are a lot of faster get rich quick schemes
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  out there, even in coffee. I asked Alex why people should
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  support their cause, and his answer was bigger than just the
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  benefit of the union to its members.
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  He suggested that without an increased floor for baristas, in
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  particular in relation to hourly pay, the industry isn't going to
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  be sustainable for people to continue working it, especially
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  in metro areas where their cost of living is much higher.
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  When having multiple jobs isn't enough to pay the rent, those
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  workers will go elsewhere and cafes will close or never open.
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  No baristas means no fancy coffees at the local coffee
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  shop. The BBIU is asking customers to
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  boycott Blue Bottle until a labor contract is reached.
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  This creates an odd tension in which they're asking for more
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  from the corporation, but also potentially making the business
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  less tenable by reducing sales and also making less money with
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  the loss of tips in hopes that the financial hit will motivate
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  the negotiators on both sides to make some concessions.
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  Another option the unionizers have to make a point or to flex
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  their power is to stage a strike or a walk out like they did in
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  the fall of 2025. During that time, they've used
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  money donated to their efforts to pay for the hours lost by the
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  barista team. I've never been part of a union,
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  so I can't speak to their power or their benefits or their cons
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  directly. I can only relay what I've
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  learned or what I've heard. When I asked Alex why does he do
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  this, he said it means thinking bigger than himself to create
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  opportunity not just for one person, but for all the people
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  in the mix now and for those coming along behind.
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  I'm curious as to what you think.
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  Are unions back in fashion? Would you join a union?
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  Why are they good or bad? Please let me know in the
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  comments. I'm looking forward to hearing
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  from you. That's our recap of the episode
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  featuring barista and Blue Bottle Independent Union
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  president Alex Pine. You can watch or listen to the
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  entire episode of the Coffee People podcast on most podcast
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  platforms and of course, YouTube.
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  We could really use your help growing our subscriber list
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  there. Find us on youtube.com at Coffee
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  in this show's notes. Thank you to our friends and
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  your baristas and of course, drink good coffee.
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  Cheers everyone. And get yourself a coffee people
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  hat or shirt. They're new link in the show
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  notes. Thanks again everyone.
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  I wonder how many times a day I cheers my cup of coffee at
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  somebody or at the screen. Thanks for listening everyone.
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