Baristas United is a union for all coffee shop workers, whether behind the counter, cleaning or delivering.

Baristas United is part of the Shop Workers Industrial Union of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The IWW union is controlled directly by its members and fights for better conditions today.  The IWW also insists that working people are entitled to everything they produce, instead of getting a meagre share while company directors are worth millions.

It is a fact that today, most coffee shop workers are unorganised.  Wages and conditions may vary from company to company and from shop to shop, but whatever the set up, baristas are all subject to the whims of company strategies that seek to reap maximum profits from the labour of coffee shop workers, while generally paying poor wages to the baristas who make those profits possible.

We were talking with a barista in a Starbucks in Manchester, and she said, 'You know, our management doesn't encourage us to be in a union'.  And you know why... because with a union you'll get better treatment than you do without one.

No matter how good the job is, united you can do better!