Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Philz Coffee Workers in California Join UFCW

Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

Staff at four Philz Coffee locations in California have voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) locals 5 and 770.

These latest victories add 40 new members from cafés in Glendale and Torrance and roughly 35 from storefronts in San Francisco and Cupertino to the Philz Coffee United union. These baristas, shift leads and trainers are organizing to secure fair wages and benefits, improved scheduling processes, workplace safety provisions, and protections against invasive surveillance and unequal discipline.

“I am really excited to move forward with unionizing,” said Makella Campbell, a barista at Philz Coffee’s Cupertino Main location. “This whole process has made me appreciate my coworkers more and it helped me understand my rights and responsibilities as an employee. It seems like we all have a common goal: a safe and secure workplace.”