Is Blank Street Coffee trying to be the nondescript third-wavy answer to Starbucks? The vibe of the 2010’s high-end cafe is alive at the over 100 storefronts, whether or not the coffee follows suit, YMMV. But Blank Street is also learning about another modern facet specialty coffee culture: unions. Baristas from all seven Boston-area Blank Street locations have voted in favor of unionizing.
As report by WGBH, the vote achieved a super-majority amongst the roughly 70 employees at the brand’s Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge locations. The Blank Street model relies on high sales numbers using as little labor as possible, sometimes just three baristas working at a time. Which means, the company leans on super-automatic espresso machines. But according to the unionizing baristas, the machines often have technical issues that “employees are not authorized to fix on their own.”
One barista recalls a time when they brought up issues to management, who responding by “[praising her] for bringing in around $10,000 per day with just three people on staff and a promise to ‘do better’ next year.”
“It was the lack of empathy when our feet were hurting, our arms, our legs, everything was hurting… It was at that point when we sat down and seriously considered, like guys, we need to unionize. For our safety, for our security, for our wellbeing. We need to do this.”
The organizers have officially requested that Blank Street voluntarily recognize the union, which they have yet to do. In an email to WGBH, representative from Blank Street have declined to comment nor would they confirm if they would recognize the union.
With nearly 50 US locations, the Blank Street union has the chance of becoming the second-largest coffee union, behind Starbucks Workers United. Who knows, maybe they’ll actually get a contract ratified before Starbucks.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
