The Boulder Company’s employees vote for the union
Workers at Spruce Confections recently voted to organize for better pay and benefits.
BOULDER, Colo. – A group of baristas and bakers in Boulder will celebrate Sunday morning between serving cups of coffee.
Workers at Spruce Confections will hold a meeting outside the company’s location on Pearl Street to celebrate their recent union vote.
“I’m going to be inside making coffee drinks, but I want to support them from afar,”[ads1]; said barista Micah Butler.
On Monday, votes were counted from workers at the company’s four coffee bars and warehouses. They voted 31-9 to join Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco, and Grain Millers Union Local 26, according to an organizer with the local union.
“First of all, I think we all want a seat at the table,” said Noah Hill, a barista at Spruce Confections. “We want a voice to discuss decisions that affect all of our livelihoods.”
Hill said the last couple of years have been tough for baristas and especially bakers.
“We have worked through labor shortages,” Hill said. “We have been denied increases. We worked through the pandemic without health care, and it has been very tough.”
Hill said that Spruce Confections employs around 70 to 90 people at a time, and he has noticed that turnover is a problem. There are seven vacancies listed on the company’s website.
“A lot of people have left,” Hill said.
Hill and colleagues like Butler want better pay and benefits. Butler said the company only offers health insurance to employees who work 38 hours a week.
“As a barista, my shifts are about six and a half hours long, so the only way I can get to 38 hours is if I worked seven days a week,” Butler said.
The owner of Spruce Confections, David Cohen, made the following statement when 9NEWS asked for comment:
Of my 29 years in the business, 2020 was the most difficult. We were lucky enough to be spared thanks to Care’s Act and a dedicated bad-ass crew who stayed safe and did whatever it took to keep the show on track.
Ultimately, my intention is to set an example of how to work harmoniously with a union in a smaller company like Spruce. But I have a lot of learning and soon negotiations to focus on at this point.
I am extremely proud of my staff. I am responsible for advocating for both those who want to organize and those who do not. I also have to make sure that the business survives, rent obligations are met, loans are repaid, etc.
At the end of this process, my wish is for the Spruce community to become stronger, more motivated and happier than ever. There will probably be some turbulence on the flight because there is only so much a company of this size can accommodate. We always try to be ahead of our competitors of the same size when it comes to salaries and benefits, we use virtually no automation, and we use expensive ingredients that cost more and more every week. In addition, we must keep prices down so that we can continue to deliver the best local coffee shops.
Either way, I will do my best of all involved, and I hope to be able to talk more eventually.
Workers who supported the work of organizing plan to gather outside the cafe on Pearl Street for a meeting at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
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