Webar: Mighty Gay Unns! Queer and Trans Labor Histori and Futur | Labor Not

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY UNION WORKERS

Comment on this story</tle><path d="M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z"></path></svg></button><span aria-hidn="te" class="wpds-c-fBEbFG">Comment</span><span class="wpds-c-fOvfhP wpds-c-fOvfhP-kshkDy-isCommentType-te none" aria-hidn="te"><span class="ment-unt font-xxxxs sc-ral-unt"><span></span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="teaser-ntent grid-center"><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py drop-p" dir="null">Ian Miller walks quickly when he is irrated.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">He picked up his stri one recent morng as he approached the pollg lotn where employe at a Starbucks Olney, Md., were gog to ci whether to unnize. The store manager, district manager and regnal manager were standg ont of a makhift votg booth set up the parkg lot. They were talkg to a tall man a llared shirt, a lawyer reprentg the $13 billn pany, Miller later learned, as baristas trickled to the store, where they each earned slightly more than the mimum wage.</p></div></div><div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In recent weeks, managers had spoken to all 18 unn-eligible workers at this Starbucks. They talked about the pany’s pay (more genero than other retail stor) and benefs (set to crease the g months). They ma everyone watch a vio where Starbucks founr Howard Schultz lled the pany a “fay” unr siege by “outsi forc.” And they explaed, at length, what workers stood to lose by jog the <a href=" target=_blank>unn effort</a> beg led at Starbucks stor across the natn by young, female and queer employe.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The were employe who had been shaped by the ph and pull over LGBTQ rights the past . The were people who entered high school as gay Amerins won the right to marry and graduated llege as nservative lawmakers phed “<a href=" target=_blank>Don’t Say Gay</a>” bills and legislatn barrg trans youth om playg <a href=" target=_blank>school sports</a>. The were employe who were told, amid a global panmic, that they were “sential.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The were employe who uld revive a clg <a href=" target=_blank>labor movement</a> the Uned Stat, observers said, employe like Miller, the irrated 5-foot-3, 24-year-old transgenr man barrelg toward his managers that very moment.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“Hi,” Miller said curtly as he me to a stop, his dyed red hair peekg out om unrneath a beanie. He nodd at his supervisors, then looked at his phone to check the remag time: three mut until the first votg ssn was set to beg.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“Why are Kev and Jay Ar hoverg over there?” Miller asked, zippg to the store. Steven Noble, 18, shgged behd the unter and told him, “They’ve been out there a while.” Miller rpond, “Well, they’re not supposed to be.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Jt a few weeks ago, workers at a Starbucks nearby Northern Virgia had voted narrowly agast formg a unn, givg a rare blow to the <a href=" target=_blank>labor effort</a> that started at a Starbucks store Buffalo last December and spread to hundreds of stor sce.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Miller heard that Mid-Atlantic regn lears of the ffee cha had tensified their prsure on workers at the Northern Virgia store the days and hours before they voted. Now, they were foced here, on store #9835. He had to figure out what to do. But first, he had to clock .</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Staffg at this store had not been the same sce the panmic h. Baristas alternately found themselv alone behd the unter wh a long le of ctomers and twiddlg their thumbs wh other workers when bs was slow. Workers wanted a bigger say how baristas were reced, retaed and schled. And <a href=" target=_blank>wh flatn</a>, they wanted to be paid more.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p><span class="wpds-c-gnhuPA wpds-c-gnhuPA-hqeSyH-variant-terstial wpds-c-gnhuPA-iPJLV-css hi-for-prt"><a data-qa="terstial-lk" href=">Women and nonbary workers lead ph to unnize at Starbucks</a></span></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Ever sce he and his fellow employe had gone public wh <a href=" target=_blank>their petn</a> to unnize, Miller had been feelg like he was ee fall, like he had stepped off a cliff on the belief that gravy would reverse. He knew he had a lot to lose, cludg his fancial stabily, his health re and his accs to tn. He had felt this way before.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Miller texted as he walked circl. He shot off a fal msage to a labor anizer, then slipped on a green apron cked out wh var ps: one wh “ASU,” Arizona State Universy, where Starbucks pays for him to go to school part-time, one wh his pronouns “he/him,” and one wh the Starbucks siren, that two-tailed mermaid that has bee the most regnizable global symbol for the pany, smokg a jot.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">As the first of his lleagu head out to vote, Miller took his post behd the sh register. “I n help whoever is next,” he lled out.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py drop-p" dir="null">Miller was nervo about the vote but he had not, at any pot the anizg procs, been aaid. He was nfint Starbucks was not gog to fire him and, maybe more importantly, he was nfint he would be fe even if they did. Miller kept this belief close: Life n be rema as readily as n be upturned. He had done all before.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Miller was born Ennis, Tex., the send child to a Southern Baptist and a Catholic. His fay oriented their liv around nservative Christian ruals as they moved around the South and the Midwt, settlg eventually the cy of Wilson North Carola. This was the only environment Miller knew growg up, but even as a child, he said later, so much of did not su him. The illy drs and pigtails. The strgent l dividg s and virtue. The judgment passed hhed whispers at church.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Miller did not unrstand why seemed like he was the only one who had never actually heard<i> </i>the voice of God. He wonred if there was somethg wrong wh him and if maybe that was why he had no iends. He drew close to his mother, a p and protective woman.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">By middle school, Miller stopped gog to Sunday service. By high school, he was spendg most of his ee time ont of a puter, makg art or msagg wh people he met onle. It was on YouTube that he first me across the word “trans.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-body grid-center" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Miller grew even more whdrawn as puberty transformed his body. Lookg at a mirror or hearg people ll him “young ma’am” sometim ma him sick.</p><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Then 2016, he enrolled at North Carola State Universy. At orientatn, he met a stunt who said he was genr queer and out. But even though 1 6 members of his Generatn Z <a href=" target=_blank>intifi as</a> LGBTQ, Miller had never met anyone person who was openly queer. By the time hman year was up, Miller had started to transn.</p><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">He “masked” when he had to go home, takg off the brs that kept his cht flat and lettg down his dark, curly hair. But the more he embraced his genr inty at school, the more difficult was to playact a different versn of himself at home. He wanted to start hormone treatment but knew he would not be able to hi that om his parents, who had ma clear long ago that they would cut him off if he ever me out as queer.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In his sophomore year, Miller started skippg class. He stggled to get out of bed and to eat, slippg to a state that afflicts a <a href=" target=_blank>vast majory</a> of trans youth and kills them at a higher rate than their cisgenr peers.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“I didn’t see a future for myself,” Miller remembered of that perd. “All I wanted to do was disappear. But somethg kicked . I don’t know what to ll ,” he ntued. “An urge to survive.” Miller started seeg a therapist. Then September 2018, a ltle before his 21st birthday, he drafted a letter to his parents.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Miller told them what had been like for him growg up. How, for years, he had wanted to “tear off his cht.” He told them he had thought for a long time about his genr inty, and that regardls of whether they approved, he was transng. He had chosen a new name for himself, he wrote: “Ian Jam.” It beme his legal inty December 2019.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div id="gift-share-le" data-ttid="gift-share-le" class="PJLV PJLV-ilotWTr-css hi-for-prt"><button aria-haspopup="dialog" aria-expand="false" aria-ntrols="gift-share-drawer" role="button" tabx="0" aria-label="Share this article" id="gift-share-drawer-ntrol-le" data-ttid="gift-share-drawer-ntrol-le" class="wpds-c-PJLV wpds-c-gsmDXe wpds-c-gsmDXe-goNocI-placement-Inle foc-highlight"><div data-ttid="gift-share-terstial-trigger" class="wpds-c-kPqOkS wpds-c-kPqOkS-jtSXsT-hasSubsText-false"><span class="wpds-c-hBJqc"><span class="wpds-c-dzSncg">Share this article</span></span><span class="wpds-c-eCvK"><span class="wpds-c-enedHQ wpds-c-enedHQ-cCdK-isShown-false">Share</span><svg xmlns=" fill="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 16 16" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fBqPWp wpds-c-fDHGth"><path fill="currentColor" d="M8 .6v3.8h.1c-4.4 0-7.3 4.5-6.9 8.8.1.8.2 1.2.2 1.2l.2 1 .4-1.3c.8-2 2-4 6.2-3.9H8v4l7-6.9L8 .6Zm1 11.3V9.3h-.9c-3 0-4.8.5-6.2 2.9.5-3.3 2.7-6.8 6.2-6.8H9V3l4.5 4.4L9 11.9Z"></path></svg></span></div></button></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">His father read the letter first then his mother. She rpond over email: “I nnot breathe, I nnot eat, I nnot functn.” Miller did not reply. Fifty mut later, she emailed aga: “You are a girl and you always will be.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“I keep thkg I will awake om this nightmare,” she ntued. “I don’t know if I n go on livg like this wh you jt gone. There is now a black cloud over everythg. I’ve never been so hurt.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Miller eventually replied, exchangg dozens of emails, text msag and lls wh his parents. But his mother,<b> </b>who Miller scribed as a stnchly nservative supporter of Donald Tmp, never me around. His parents cled to speak to The Washgton Post.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Wh a year left until graduatn, Miller dropped out of llege and moved to Maryland to be wh his partner, also a trans man. He did not have a r or much the way of savgs. He had never had a full-time job but he knew then he need one. Starbucks, he had read onle, offered trans health benefs for employe. A store not far om him, an hour by foot, had a vancy. Miller started walkg.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py drop-p" dir="null">The barista peered at the ont wdow as he wiped down a metal pcher. Ctomers had been streamg all day, askg for the “unn y” ffee. Now, a small crowd of them had gathered outsi the store. Miller wanted to troduce himself but he did not have time. Mobile orrs were rollg .</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">David Mott, 71, was huddled outsi, along wh a Maryland state legate, a Montgomery County uncil member and a handful of activists om the Democratic Socialists of Ameri. Mott, a retired labor anizer wh the Service Employe Internatnal Unn, lived Olney and had e to volunteer as an electn observer.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“This is very tertg. It is so very, very different,” Mott said, bouncg as he held onto a sweatg cup of ld brew. Back his day, the labor movement was often reprented by Whe male dtrial workers, even though women and people of lor often ma signifint ntributns. The recent revival of labor actn, Mott said, was not like that.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The unnizatn effort at the Starbucks Buffalo last year had been visibly led by two young women. In New York Cy, Black men were creded wh anizg a group of warehoe workers to the Amazon first unn. And Maryland, the first Starbucks to anize had been Baltimore, where a majory-LGBTQ workforce <a href=" target=_blank>voted unanimoly</a> to unnize their lotn.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“This new generatn is gog to be the one to brg unns back,” said Stephanie Hernanz, a Workers Uned anizer who has been supportg unn efforts Maryland. Virtually all the Starbucks employe who have ntacted her have been LGBTQ, women or people of lor, she said, wh some as young as 18.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Many of them were drawn to Starbucks bee of the liberal ials that the Seattle-based pany poed. And many of them told Hernanz the same story: Company valu were no replacement for tangible benefs. They wanted, and need, more.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">At the Olney store, several employe left the early months of the panmic, jog the “<a href=" target=_blank>Great Rignatn</a>.” The baristas who remaed took on more durg their shifts, sometim givg up breaks and days off to ver staffg gaps.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In 2021, as flatn picked up, their wag stayed largely stagnant. Will Gibian, a 35-year-old shift supervisor and one of the most senr employe at the store, started dog Instart liveri on his off hours to afford rent. Workers tried raisg their ncerns wh management. They said ltle changed.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-body grid-center" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">For Miller, the panmic brought on other transformatns. He grew closer to his partner’s fay Maryland. He enrolled llege for a gree social psychology and started makg art aga, agated by the equi that were exposed by the <a href=" target="_blank" class="ntextual_lk">ronavis</a> and by the monstratns after the murr of Gee Floyd. As Republin lawmakers implemented legislatn erodg protectns for transgenr and gay youth, Miller morated onle foms for queer people om nservative and relig fai.</p><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In April 2021, Miller went for genr-affirmg top surgery at Johns Hopks Universy. Panmic rtrictns meant no visors, so when Miller woke up om the anthetic, he was alone. Unrneath his bandag, he uld feel that his cht was flat. He wept wh joy. There is a photo his partner took of him after the operatn that Miller lik to show people. He is lookg at a mirror, his ey st down toward the two horizontal srs on his cht. He is beamg. “Look at this,” he tells people, “and tell me that operatn was not lifavg.”</p><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Transng ma him want to live aga, Miller said. It ma him want more out of life. In early Febary, he attend a meetg at the store where his district manager Jay Ar Boac aga failed to addrs employee ncerns. A Starbucks rporate spokperson cled to make Boac available for ment. Fstrated, Miller texted a group chat he had wh the three other shift supervisors. He ma his msage pla: “Consir unn.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py drop-p" dir="null">The untg started at 6 p.m. An electn official took votg slips out of the box one by one. Two ys, then a no.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">L by the settg sun, Miller watched the vote unt wh Hernanz and a handful of other employe. Everyone at the store Miller had spoken to recent weeks seemed to agree that workers should get a bigger say cidg how labor was distributed and how wag were set. But he worried. Maybe his lleagu had changed their mds. Schulz, the Starbucks executive, had recently promised more benefs to nonunnized employe. Two more nos.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">It had been a hectic day. New ctomers had e to check out the Starbucks they heard might be unnizg. Regular ctomers had wanted to chat about what was gog on. A lol televisn crew had swung by when Miller was one of only three people on shift, too few to stop and give ments. Even before he had gotten to the vote unt, Miller had been exhsted.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The electn official flipped over the box to show there were no more ballots. Then me the fal unt: 9 y, 4 nos. Store 9835 had voted to unnize.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Hernanz whooped. Mott, the retired labor anizer, grned at the Starbucks lawyers as he put his arms the air victory. In the g days, store managers would tack up a msage askg workers to “move away om the ‘ vers them’ feelg that has changed our work environment.” But for now, they stood quietly.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Miller clapped and lghed unr his mask, his face red om joy. “Thank you,” he said quietly to the people ngratulatg him. Miller still had two hours left his shift so as others were still high-fivg, he started walkg back to the store. He went slowly this time, placg his hand on his cht as he breathed and out.</p></div><div class="wpds-c-dhzjXW wpds-c-dhzjXW-iPJLV-css mt-md grid-center grid-body"><div id="gift-share-end" data-ttid="gift-share-end" class="PJLV PJLV-idiqKOk-css hi-for-prt"><button aria-haspopup="dialog" aria-expand="false" aria-ntrols="gift-share-drawer" role="button" tabx="0" aria-label="Share this article" id="gift-share-drawer-ntrol-end" data-ttid="gift-share-drawer-ntrol-end" class="wpds-c-PJLV wpds-c-gsmDXe wpds-c-gsmDXe-iIVoLq-placement-Shortcut foc-highlight"><div class="wpds-c-UazGY" id="gift-share-shortcut" data-ttid="gift-share-shortcut"><svg xmlns=" fill="var(--wpds-lors-primary)" viewBox="0 0 16 16" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fVfumU "><path fill="currentColor" d="M8 .6v3.8h.1c-4.4 0-7.3 4.5-6.9 8.8.1.8.2 1.2.2 1.2l.2 1 .4-1.3c.8-2 2-4 6.2-3.9H8v4l7-6.9L8 .6Zm1 11.3V9.3h-.9c-3 0-4.8.5-6.2 2.9.5-3.3 2.7-6.8 6.2-6.8H9V3l4.5 4.4L9 11.9Z"></path></svg><div class="PJLV wpds-c-kwcHlj">Share</div></div></button></div><div class="wpds-c-hcekgi"><div class="mb-lg-mod" data-qa="ments-btn-div"><button aria-label="Scroll to the ments sectn" data-qa="ments-btn" class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-SQjOY-variant-sendary wpds-c-kSOqLF-eHdizY-nsy-flt wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left wpds-c-kSOqLF-igqYgPb-css ments hi-for-prt"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fBqPWp "><path d="M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z"></path></svg><span></span> Comments</button></div></div></div><div class="grid-center grid-body"><div></div></div></article><div class="centered-layout grid-layout"><div class="grid-center grid-mobile-full-bleed"><div class="hi-for-prt ml-to mr-to mt-md pt-lg recirc" data-qa="recirc"><div class="flex-l jtify-center hi-for-prt"><div class="pr-sm ml-sm ml-0-ns b-l br-l bc-gray-darkt more-om-post"><div></div><div class="dn db-l pb-md pt-md"><div data-qa="newsletter" class="hi-for-prt relative"><div class="dib w-100"><div><div class="flex jtify-center align self-center center transn-all duratn-400 ease--out" data-qa="sc-newsletter-signup" aria-label=""><svg aria-labelledby="react-aria-1-aria" role="img" viewBox="0 0 100 80"><tle id="react-aria-1-aria">Loadg... .