Baristas United: The Construction of “Bad Jobs” Within Constrained Labor Movements

• In Event: 41021 - Student Forum Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 6: Labor Movements, Global Economics, and the Gig Economy

Abstract

Previous scholarship has looked at the rise of precarious employment, the resultant construction of “bad jobs”, and the decline of working-class socio-economic status. In 2021 workers at Starbucks began to organize prompted by poor working conditions. The Starbucks corporation, noted for its categorical and wide-ranging attempts to suppress organizing attempts by workers, continues to challenge workers to date via old and new anti-union tactics. Using content analysis of 54 videos posted to Tik-Tok by Starbucks workers, themes arose of workplace hostility and precarious employment and how employer’s challenged workers organizing. What workers felt was a “bad job” was partially an extension of the anti-union effort of the Starbucks corporation itself. These issues left many workers feeling disempowered, which could lead them to quit their jobs for some in the sample. These findings highlight the issues of “bad jobs” as not just issues of economic security but also the right to unionize.

Author

• Tyler M Smith, Independent Scholar