Inside the Compass Coffee Unionization Tumult

Compass Coffee, a coffee chain in Washington, D.C., is facing negative PR over a unionization drive, which involved union organizers accusing management of putting friends and business executives on café payrolls to sabotage their efforts. The chain denies this claim. The issue is significant as labor fights are increasingly staked over the food industry, particularly coffee, which powers its creative and political economy. Local brands’ reputations are at stake if the masses perceive them as heavy-handed toward unions.

The company, founded by two former Marines in 2014, has expanded to 18 sites and remains a darling of the scene. Cofounder Michael Haft says the company aims to be specialty coffee that is fun and not pretentious or snobby. Mayor Muriel Bowser turned to Compass in February to lure workers back to their downtown offices, handing out free coffee. However, workers organizing for a union say they have endured years of mismanagement and unlivable wages.

A unionization vote is scheduled for July 16, and workers have complained that a hiring spree is aimed at weakening their support. According to Restaurant Dive, about five dozen new workers were hired across seven cafés that seek to unionize. Penina Meier-Silverman, a shift supervisor at the Georgetown café, tells me organizers plan to challenge their eligibility to vote in the election if they show up. Haft doesn’t want to talk about specific employees and the list of voting employees won’t be known until July 14.

On the pay front, Haft shared an employee booklet that shows starting pay for a barista apprentice starting at $18 an hour, increasing on a sliding scale up to $20.25 after 61+ months as a barista trainer.

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