Tiburon teen among leaders of an effort to unionize local Starbucks

A local teen who works as a barista at the Strawberry Village Starbucks is helping lead the effort to unionize the store, an attempt to add momentum to a worker-led union campaign within the company that began last year and has been spreading around the country.

Tiburon’s Emma Orrick, a junior at Redwood High School, along with coworker Ella Clark of Tam Valley, a junior at Tamalpais High School, have organized the campaign seeking a higher starting wage for baristas, a pay bump for when the store is short-staffed and the ability to let customers tip via their credit and debit cards, as well as a say in whether to accept mobile orders when the store is short-staffed when there’s a big rush of walk-in customers.

The girls have persuaded more than half of the 21 eligible Starbucks employees at their location to sign cards petitioning for an election to decide whether to unionize. Workers will receive ballots in the mail by May 13 and have until June 3 to complete them. The ballots are set to be counted June 6. The store’s manager and two assistant managers are excluded from the vote.

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