Blue Bottle Independent Union workers conduct Jan. 25 Kendall Square walkout
Prull: “As an independent union, we do it all ourselves. We are both workers, and union members, and union leaders.”
Sabine Chu–The Tech
Sabine Chu–The Tech
On Jan. 25, Blue Bottle Independent Union (BBIU) members staged a walkout around 12:30 p.m. at the store’s Kendall Square location. Louis Soults, an organizer for the union, read a prepared statement alleging that Blue Bottle had “delayed negotiations over [workers’] core demands, and more recently, engaged in bad faith with us over the recent closure of the Prudential location,” noting that this closure had occurred without the consent of union members. Soults stated that union members had attempted to bargain for a $7.59 tip differential, commuter benefits, and guaranteed working hours for the relocated former Prudential employees. These demands were unsuccessful, and Soults claimed that relocated workers often found their hours cut.
In protest of these actions, workers walked out for 7 minutes and 59 seconds. About a dozen people, including family members and other supporters, participated in the peaceful walkout. Workers did not chant or hold signs other than a “Blue Bottle Indie Union” banner, although they fixed union pins to their uniforms.
Before the walkout, The Tech spoke with Rocky Prull, the union’s president since its inception in May 2024, and Soults, about their demands and history. Prull shared that the union has around 70 members scattered across Blue Bottle’s six Boston-area locations. Most union members are baristas, but shift leads and assistant cafe leaders — that is, any hourly wage employees who make tips — are also eligible to join. All new employees are automatically union members, but members promoted to management are required to leave the union.
Members are not required to pay union dues, since they have not yet negotiated and ratified a contract with Blue Bottle. However, the union holds general meetings approximately once a month and weekly meetings for the organizing committee, which includes members from every location. The following monthly set of bargaining sessions with Blue Bottle occurred on Jan. 28 and 29. There was no request for comment by The Tech by the time of publication.
According to Prull, the union’s key demands are a “living wage, democratic control, and workplace protections.” The union claimed management has been slow to address barista concerns about customer behavior or coworker harassment. Prull proposed that baristas should be able to ban customers from stores, and the company should have “better and clearer” investigation and workplace harassment policies. The baristas also asked to “be able to raise criticisms of management without fear of retaliation.” This fear, the union believes, is justified, recalling that everyone they have interacted with in management has been unsupportive of the union. Discipline and write-ups have been issued from in-cafe management, with “orders for that discipline” coming from upper management. Prull also noted that Blue Bottle has hired the law firm Ogletree Deakins, which has been accused of union-busting on numerous occasions. As of time of publication, a Blue Bottle spokesman did not respond to The Tech’s request for comment.
Prull would not comment on any potential efforts to join with other Blue Bottle locations nationally, but cited the importance of direct democracy and building community. He stressed, “As an independent union, we do it all ourselves. We are workers, union members, and union leaders.” Meanwhile, Soults emphasized high participation at meetings, highlighting his roles speaking to coworkers and attending meetings, creating media for new union members, and protesting with workers at other stores. He recalled that he started working as a barista at Blue Bottle right when the union formed and that the ability to join a unionized workforce was a large part of his reason to stay.
As for perceived benefits, Soults said, “There’s definitely an awareness as to what Blue Bottle is doing. They can’t just get away with stuff.” However, he believes the company continues to engage in unfair practices and highlighted the September firing of Remy Roskin, a Harvard Square employee and “very important organizer.” He also speculated that the Prudential Center closure could be an intentional choice on Blue Bottle’s part to create higher turnover rates and lower union membership. For Soults, the emphasis on awareness extended to the walkout’s main purpose. He hoped it would draw regular customers’ attention to the union’s efforts and “send a message” to the company.
When asked if anything could dampen his enthusiasm for the union, particularly considering their lack of concrete gains thus far, Soults said, “I’m optimistic because the people in the union fundamentally believe in it and are so passionate about it.” He pointed to solidarity efforts with Colombian farm workers employed by Nestlé, which since 2017 has been Blue Bottle’s majority owner. Nestlé has been embroiled in various public controversies, including allegations of union-busting in Colombia.
Customers at the café seemed broadly supportive of the union’s efforts, but some expressed confusion or concerns about inefficacy. Lynna has been to the Kendall Square Blue Bottle location several times. (Any individuals identified only by their first name did not provide their full name.) She did not know that the workers were unionized and continued working on her laptop during the walkout. Afterward, however, she expressed interest in learning more about the union. Another customer, Jay, was already aware of the BBIU. “I hope they get everything they want in their contract,” Jay said. “They work really hard. They’re my neighbors in the general greater Boston area… I’ve known some people who work at cafes for quite a while, and I want them to be safe and happy.”
Another customer, Hiram Samel, is a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management who has conducted research on the electronics industry’s labor standards. He is also the father to two children working as baristas, including a son who worked at a different Blue Bottle location.
Samel expressed approval of the union but noted, since he lives part-time in San Francisco, that he found it difficult to consistently show support at the Boston locations. Samel characterized the BBIU’s status as an independent union as “both interesting and problematic because they don’t have the bargaining power… no one else is going to go and picket for them.”
When asked about the potential for national unionization across all Blue Bottle locations, he was skeptical. Pointing to the varying employee bases across cities, Samel stated that baristas in different areas want different benefits. He shared his belief that “it’s hard to support the union because they don’t really strike.” As for the organizational structure, he noted that some coffee companies try to limit their workers’ time to 30 hours a week, which prevents them from accessing full-time benefits or climbing the career ladder within the company. (When asked, Soults said that most Blue Bottle workers are part-time but could not give exact numbers.)
Others came to the walkout specifically to support the union. Janet O’Riordan, a semi-retired teacher from Arlington, shared that she heard about the walkout from an email the previous day. She stated that she supported “100% unionization throughout this country.” As she initially thought the event was an active protest, she was ready to make a sign. O’Riordan said that the beginnings of the second Trump administration have amplified her desire to show up for “labor union rights, immigrant rights,” and expressed her desire that others “show up for events like this, for workers.”
Matthew Schreiner and Ingrid are two long-term supporters of the BBIU. Schreiner first encountered the union when he picked up an employee from another location to take them to Kendall Square, and he has also attended “solidarity hang-outs” at Harvard Square. He believes “it all started because of the Starbucks efforts” and shared that he was part of the 24/7 strike coverage on Commonwealth Avenue two summers ago. Ingrid, a friend of some Blue Bottle baristas, also participated in this strike coverage. Both found it a meaningful experience and stated they were unilaterally supportive of “any union that’s developing.”
Ingrid shared that she is an officer of the Boston Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which has been in contact with the BBIU. She believes that “unionism centers agency” and “agency is the key to survival.” Like O’Riordan, she anticipates that the new presidential administration could be hostile to labor rights, but emphasized that the IWW will not change its everyday operations. Matthew agreed: “The same effort will continue, and the strike threat is what wins. You make things happen at the site where you are.”
Still, it was unclear whether this optimism was justified. Although most people seemed to agree with the union, their efforts might not have reached many outside the shop’s physical confines. The only other member of the press present was a reporter from WorkingMass, a Democratic Socialists of America-affiliated publication. In addition, workers from other locations did not attend the walkout. For most of the 7 minutes and 59 seconds, passersby walked past without stopping, including the period in which Soults and Prull explained their demands to the WorkingMass reporter.
Around 12:55 p.m., one barista exclaimed to another that the walkout felt “hilariously anticlimactic: ‘Oh, and then I go back.’” Orders continued to steadily come in, as did the busy hum of customers chatting and sipping their drinks. The employees — still wearing their BBIU pins — kept working.