March 2026 Bargaining Update
Hello BBIU baristas,
Our bargaining team met with company representatives on Tuesday, March 17 and Wednesday, March 18 to continue negotiations toward a first contract.
Due to flight cancellations, Blue Bottle has agreed to meet over Zoom for this month's bargaining session! In the past year and a half, the company has continuously refused to meet over Zoom —that they've agreed now is a testament to our power as a union.
This month, our union has one major takeaway from bargaining:
Blue Bottle is outright refusing to negotiate a contract and is demanding that we waive most of our rights under the National Labor Relations Act as a condition of bargaining.
Specifically, Blue Bottle is demanding that our Union completely waive our rights to engage in any form of legally protected protest against the company, and waive our right to bargain over changes to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. See our January 2026 update for details on their specific proposals.
During our January session, our Union made a significant concession by offering the company a standard “Management Rights” provision — one that would allow Blue Bottle to do the following without bargaining with our union:
Determine training requirements and conduct trainings
Make changes to operations
Make changes to products used and sold
Direct and supervise the work of employees
Despite this movement, Blue Bottle is now holding negotiations hostage. They are refusing to bargain any other part of the contract until our union agrees to their so-called “Management Rights” provision and waives our right to engage in any legally protected protest against the company.
When our bargaining team made clear that our members would not accept a contract waiving their rights without anything in return, Blue Bottle still refused to provide legitimate counter offers and refused even to say whether they would offer any wage increases if we conceded.
As we said in our May 2025 bargaining update: our power as a union threatens their vision of dictatorial control over the workplace. To win a contract that protects our rights and pays wages we can live on, we must combine our power and continue this fight together!
If you want to win a contract with livable wages:
Attend our next general meeting on Sunday March 29 at 7pm EST. Our bargaining team will hold a vote on how we should respond to the company’s ransom. The meeting is hybrid, check your emails for the Zoom link and location.
Become a dues paying member to help build our strike fund! With options starting at $2/month, your contribution helps us to build a credible strike threat.
Share our union’s boycott pledge with friends and family!
