June 2026 Bargaining Update
Hello BBIU baristas,
On June 24 and 25 our union’s bargaining team met with the company to further contract negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement which will improve our lives and working conditions.
Excitingly, our union made significant progress in negotiations this month! Our bargaining team reached a tentative agreement on a package which provides:
Just cause for discipline (no more arbitrary, petty, and tyrannical writeups)
A clear attendance policy which end uneven enforcement
Fair scheduling practices including:
A guaranteed minimum of 10 hours for part timers
Management will not schedule baristas outside of the availability that they give
Bans clopens, ensuring that baristas will have at least 11 hours before an opening shift
Protections from customer harassment (this is the “disruptive guest behavior” article) This clause empowers baristas to step off the floor if they are being intimidated, receiving unwanted advances, or if customers become violent.
Bi-annual meetings for baristas to meet with company representatives to raise concerns, address ongoing issues, and for us to have a truly democratic workplace.
Protections from layoffs which grants seniority rights to baristas.
Protections from subcontracting. The company will not be able to subcontract any work done by union members.
Our union conceded to a narrow and limited management rights which preserves our right to bargain changes to working conditions and specifies that management cannot change any terms of employment which are covered by our contract.
You can read our tentative agreement here (identical to company proposal #34)
And we anticipate that next session we will reach agreement on another package which includes all other non-economic terms. This package will give us:
Strong union rights, allowing our union to conduct orientation meetings with new hires and granting stewards the ability to attend grievance meetings without loss of pay.
A tip sheet which will provide a weekly breakdown of the amount of tips each café collects, providing transparency to how tips are collected and split.
Recourse for contract violations and an ability to hold management accountable.
Health and safety protections.
Our members are prepared to strike to secure a contract
However, Blue Bottle continues to demand an overbroad “no-strikes” provision which would effectively bar the union and its members from engaging in most forms of legally protected protest. Our union owes its existence to our ability to strike, march on the boss, and take other forms of action.
Ahead of this month's bargaining session, members of our union voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a strike. 84% of baristas voted to authorize our union to announce a strike at any moment.
This means that should Blue Bottle choose to return to bad faith negotiating, insult our membership, or commit any other unfair labor practices, our union is ready and willing to strike.
What’s left after this package?
Once our union reaches a tentative agreement on this final package we will engage in negotiations over wages and benefits.
Our union is fighting for wages that baristas can live off of. Blue Bottle is fighting to secure “labor peace” at the lowest possible cost all while increasing prices and conducting workplace speedups!
25% of Blue Bottle baristas rely on SNAP or EBT in order to afford groceries. Another 25% of baristas financially provide for dependents. Blue Bottle’s $18/hour base pay for baristas in Boston is untenable and forces many into a Dickensian existence.
For our union to win wages that we can live on we need to demonstrate that substantial increases to wages will be cheaper for Blue Bottle than delaying reaching an agreement. Now more than ever, our union needs to be ready to stand in solidarity with all baristas so that we can win.
How do we do that?
Become a dues paying member!Roughly 25% of our members currently pay monthly dues to ensure that our union is prepared to strike. Read our most recent financial report here.
Attend a strike planning meeting on July 1 @ 8:30pm EST over zoom. While we are hopeful that Blue Bottle has finally learned that our union is not to be trifled with, it would be a mistake for us to stop organizing.
