Verve Coffee workers vote to unionize at three cafés

Employees at three Verve Coffee Roasters cafés voted Tuesday to form a union in pursuit of better wages, consistent hours and more decision-making power. 

Workers at the Fair Avenue and Pacific Avenue locations in Santa Cruz, and the Market Street café in San Francisco, all voted to unionize. However, the government shutdown could delay the National Labor Relations Board from officially certifying the results, slowing the next phase until the federal government and its entities reopen. 

“We remain committed to respecting our team’s right to join a union. Our people and our culture are the center-point of who we are and that will never change,” said a Verve spokesperson in an email to Lookout. “We look forward to working with the National Labor Review Board and their union representation to reach a positive outcome for everyone.”

The drive follows in the footsteps of other coffee chains in Santa Cruz County that have successfully unionized. In 2022, two Starbucks locations in Santa Cruz were among the first in the state to vote to unionize, although the Ocean Street location closed this week as a result of nationwide cutbacks. In July, a Starbucks in Soquel became the sixth in the county to form a union in the past three years. 

About a dozen Verve baristas, managers and shift leads voted at each coffeehouse, said Pacific Avenue worker Sasha Pavy. Pavy has been at the forefront of union organizing, and attended both elections in Santa Cruz – first to vote at her place of work, and then to support her colleagues at the Fair Avenue location. At Pacific Avenue, the store closed early Tuesday afternoon to hold the election. 

Employees lined up inside the café to vote at a private booth in the back. Representatives from the NLRB, the union and the company confirmed each worker’s identity before they cast their vote anonymously by placing a ballot in a cardboard box. 

Later that evening on Fair Avenue, the process was the same, except that employees waited outside the café and were invited inside individually to cast their vote. 

“It was a fast process, and super simple,” said Pavy. 

At 7 p.m., after voting at both locations was complete, workers watched as the labor board representative displayed each ballot to the waiting crowd and stated each vote. Several workers chose to not vote, but everyone who did voted “yes,” said Pavy. The election at the San Francisco café was also unanimous. 

“He held up each ballot and just said, “Yes … Yes … Yes,” she said. “When he kept reading and there were no ‘no’ votes, I almost teared up. There is so much solidarity with my coworkers. We were all looking at each other and saying, ‘Oh my God, this is happening. All our hard work is paying off.'”

According to Pavy and other coffeehouse workers at Verve, conditions at the Santa Cruz-founded craft coffee company have worsened over time. Low wages, inconsistent raises and decreasing tips, as well as staffing issues and low hours, inspired workers at the three cafés to form a union. Workers presented their intent on Sept. 1 – Labor Day, a holiday celebrating workers’ rights – to representatives for Verve owners Colby Barr and Ryan O’Donovan. 

In September, three more Verve cafés – all inside corporate headquarters for software companies Slack and Meta and clothing giant Levi Strauss & Co. – filed for union elections, representing 12 workers. Their election will be held on Nov. 5. 

With the election behind them, Pavy and her colleagues are taking a short break from union duties. Later this month, each café will choose a worker to represent their interests in negotiations with Barr and O’Donovan. After the person is selected, the workers will meet to discuss what changes they’d like to bring to the table. 

“With these strong votes, we feel really good going into these negotiations,” said Jim Araby, the director of strategic campaigns at United Food and Commercial Workers (UCFW), who has helped Verve employees through the legal framework. “It’s very clear that workers want the union.” 

The National Labor Relations Board will send an official letter to all parties certifying the election. This typically takes a week, but the government shutdown is likely to extend that process, said Araby. 

After the board recognizes the results, workers will elect a bargaining committee and survey members for issues and priorities to cover in the contract. The UFCW will request information from Verve about benefits, how the company determines wages and other operational information to help the union craft its proposal, he said. 

Araby anticipated that negotiations could start in late November or early December, although no date is set. Creating a contract can take six months to a year, and sometimes longer, he said, depending on the business owner’s approach to the union. 

“The workers did a tremendous job to show that they want the union. We look forward to entering into good-faith negotiations with the company to make [Verve] a better place to work,” said Araby. 

At the Pacific Avenue café, Pavy said she plans to throw her hat in the ring to represent the workers. “I would love to, but I’m totally OK if someone else wants to,” she said. “We have a lot of great advocates at this cafe.” 

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FOR THE RECORD: This story was updated with comments from Verve Coffee Roasters.

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