It was an unlikely gathering: NFL players stood beside Starbucks baristas chanting into bullhorns and holding signs that read, "Hey, union-busting CEOs. Let's play ball."
Last May, workers at the Starbucks in Avondale voted to form a union, joining the growing wave of Starbucks unionization around Phoenix and across the country. The movement, led by Starbucks Workers United, has not slowed in the Valley. In November, workers at multiple Starbucks stores around Phoenix went on strike for a day, shuttering at least one location.
"We are here to stand in solidarity with workers at Starbucks," said Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, one of the largest labor unions in the country. "We know that players on the field are workers, too. So what better than to bring together that solidarity as we head into this Sunday."
After all, Shuler said, the Starbucks workers attempting to unionize are "facing some of the most dirty union-busting tactics I have seen in a long time."
In December 2021, a Buffalo Starbucks became the first U.S. location to vote to form a union, and similar successful votes followed across the country — including at the Westwind Plaza store in Avondale. But since the votes, workers have struggled to get to the bargaining table, as the coffee giant stalls negotiations and, according to union leaders, retaliates against workers.
Andrew Trull, a spokesperson for Starbucks, told Phoenix New Times that the company doesn't engage in anti-union activity. "Our focus has, and continues to be, on working side-by-side with our partners to listen, learn, and reinvent the Starbucks experience. Our hope is the union would respect our right to listen to, collaborate with, and share information and our perspective with our partners — just as we respect their right to do so," Trull wrote.
‘We Are All Workers’
On Saturday, baristas at the Avondale store, along with organizers with Starbucks Workers United and AFL-CIO leadership, were joined at the rally by a powerful ally: the NFL Players Association, the union that represents NFL players."We are all workers fighting for the same exact thing," said JC Tretter, president of the NFL Players Association and a former player with the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers. "We will stand behind you as players until you get what you deserve, and that is better wages, better benefits, and better working conditions."
The timing of the rally on Super Bowl weekend — not far from the stadium in Glendale — was no accident. Shuler told New Times that the labor struggles behind the game are often forgotten. "There's a lot of attention on the glitz and the glam of it, but underneath it — all those corporate sponsorships and the immense amount of capital that goes into an event like that — there are people," she said. People such as hotel workers, concessionaires, and janitorial staff, Shuler added.
"I'd rather be here than at the game," DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, told New Times. "Have a great time on Super Bowl Sunday — but that doesn't mean you get to ignore the people who are doing a lot of the work."
Smith, Shuler, and others joined Starbucks workers in demanding that the corporation come to the table to bargain and end retaliatory practices that Workers United alleges have continued in Starbucks stores that try to unionize. Union organizers at Starbucks stores have said they have faced frequent retaliation and even termination, as in the case of Laila Dalton, who was fired from a Phoenix Starbucks after she led a union drive.
Cassidy Elliott, a worker at the Avondale Starbucks store, said she was glad to see the support, as workers at the store continue to fight through negotiations.
"It's been really inspirational," she said. "People are going to see that unions are everywhere. They protect the people we watch on the news every day or watch play their games every day — or get our coffee from every day."