August 2026 Bargaining update

Dear BBIU baristas,

Our bargaining team met with the company on August 11 and 12 to continue our negotiations for a strong first contract.

The company provided our union with what they claim is their last, best, and final offer on economics, which includes:

1. Wage increases totaling nearly 7% for the life of the contract for all positions.

2. Bereavement leave which is inclusive of chosen family

1. “In the event of a death of a person with whom an employee shares a close familial relationship and/or living arrangement, the affected employee may take a single, continuous leave of absence.”

3. Boston will receive three new holidays, including recognition of Juneteenth, bringing the total to 11 holidays per year.

Below is Blue Bottle’s proposed wage table for the life of our contract.

A screenshot of Blue Bottle’s last, best, and final offer for wages

A copy of Blue Bottle’s last, best, and final offer can be found here. 

Our bargaining team fought hard to push the company to increase wages for baristas so that baristas can live a dignified life. Our union’s final proposal would have seen wages increase by 10% in the first year for all positions and by 14% over the life of the contract. Blue Bottle refused to consider ideas which would have brought our proposal closer to theirs, such as a tip differential.

Below is our union’s most recent proposed wage table.

A screenshot of our union’s most recent proposed wage scale.

What next?

Our bargaining team has not yet provided the company with a response of whether or not we will accept their offer. We will be holding information sessions over zoom to answer any questions about the company’s final offer on:

• Wednesday, August 19 @ 8:30pm EST

• Thursday, August 20 @ 8pm EST

Attendance is highly encouraged. Our bargaining team will also be soliciting feedback with a short survey. 

Our collective solidarity got us here

It is a testament to our power that our union has been able to force Blue Bottle to enter into a collective bargaining agreement at all. Blue Bottle has spent the past two years frantically scrambling to claw back power from their baristas by engaging in ardent union-busting. The concessions we’ve won from Blue Bottle reflect a long and hard fought battle over who controls the workplace.

Not only have we come close to winning a contract, we have been able to secure far more non-economic wins than any first contract for a coffee shop reviewed by our union’s bargaining team. The current economic offer presented to our union’s bargaining team is comparable to economic packages recently ratified by other coffee unions.

Crucially, we did this as an independent union! We have forced our employer to the table with no power but our collective solidarity. Without the backing of a larger union, political party, or government agency we forced a company owned by Nestlé to make major concessions to us. 

A copy of our union’s prior tentative agreements on non-economic terms can be found here. Below is a brief recap of the non-economic concessions which we’ve won from Blue Bottle.

What we’ve won:

• Strong non-discrimination language

  • The company will not engage in or tolerate discrimination, harassment, or bullying on the basis of race, color, religion,religious creed, native language or dialect, national origin, ethnicity, ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, parental status, pregnancy status, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, socioeconomic status (solely for purposes of promotion), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, domestic violence victim status.

• Just cause for discipline and protection from management’s tyranny, including:

  • A clear attendance policy which will end uneven enforcement

  • Protections from abuse of cameras

  • No more arbitrary discipline

• Better scheduling practices

  • Including a guaranteed minimum number of hours for part-timers

  • Banning “clopens”

  • Baristas will not be scheduled outside of their availability

  • The ability to request unpaid time off using UKG

• Strong union rights, including

  • The ability to conduct orientation meetings with new hires

  • Stewards will be able to attend grievance meetings without loss of pay

  • Union bulletin boards in the back of house 

  • Union access to stores without a steward

  • A narrow and limited management rights

  • The ability to handbill, flyer, banner, or use display inflatables (such as scabby the rat) to shame the company during the life of the contract

• A more democratic workplace

  • Biannual meetings with management to advocate for employees

  • A strong grievance procedure to enforce our contract

  • A weekly tip sheet so baristas can know that they’re not being cheated out of tipped income

• Protections from customer harassment

• Protections for immigrant workers

  • The company will not disclose employee’s immigration statuses publicly

  • The company will label back-of-house areas as private

  • The company will provide the union of notice to any inquiry into a member’s immigration status

• Job security

  • Protections from layoffs and seniority rights for baristas

  • A ban on subcontracting bargaining unit work

• Self-expression

  • The company will provide baristas a way to suggest music for the café playlists

  • The company will allow up to two union pins to be worn on aprons