SAN DIEGO — Some workers from the Hillcrest branch of Better Buzz Coffee chain have officially filed a petition with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 135. It's the first step toward unionizing the Hillcrest location. The Hillcrest employees will likely vote next month on whether or not to unionize.
Organizer Ben Leighton says they love their customers and their coworkers — but don't receive the same feeling from their corporate managers.
"We are not getting the same treatment that we deserve from management, Leighton said. We feel like we are being ignored."
The group working to advocate for their team says they want better pay and benefits.
Katy Jae Waldman, who released a statement on behalf of the group last Friday, said she hopes to see workers benefit from the company's rapid growth. But that hasn't happened.
"Their profits are soaring, but their workers are hurting," Waldman said in the release.
CBS 8 spoke with Waldman and two other employees Wednesday about the recent unionizing efforts.
"We're only doing this because this is our last choice," Waldman told CBS 8.
They're also fighting for more predictable hours and scheduling.
"We have nothing," she said. "We get paid minimum wage, we have zero benefits, and we only have the time off that is required by the State of California."
This effort follows the recent hike in minimum wage for California's fast food workers. The baristas currently make the City of San Diego's minimum wage which is $16.85 per hour.
Waldman says it's not enough to live off of in one of the most expensive cities in the country.
"Nobody even working full-time hours — which nobody gets at Better Buzz — can pay for a one-bedroom apartment at all with that wage."
Better Buzz Coffee is continuing to expand, now with more than 20 locations in Southern California and beyond. This includes new branches opening in Arizona.
Waldman sees the expansion as an opportunity to help the workers.
"During a time of such expansion, their employees should be able to share the spoils of that," she said. "We're the ones making the coffee and getting them the money."
Another Hillcrest branch employee Jackson Ducksworth hopes other locations will follow suit on their efforts.
"I think there's a general feeling among all the employees that we definitely deserve more than we've been given so far," he said. "I think we're going to get it."
CBS 8 reached out to Better Buzz for comment and have not received a reply before publication.
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