Union Breakthroughs at Two Coffee Chains, While Kaldi’s Faces Boycott

Voluntary Recognition at Discourse Coffee and Cat & Cloud

In a notable stretch for coffee-industry labor organizing, workers at two separate companies—Discourse Coffee in Milwaukee and Cat & Cloud in Santa Cruz—announced their intent to unionize and promptly received voluntary recognition from their employers.

At Discourse, 23 employees affiliated with the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization (MASH), the same group that assisted Anodyne Coffee workers in their union drive last year. Anodyne, which Fairwave Holdings acquired in 2023, contested the union vote.

Discourse took a different path. Founder and CEO Ryan Castelaz told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “There’s no point in building a company if it doesn’t serve people who work in it every day.”

More than 70% of Discourse workers signed union authorization cards. Because the company recognized the union voluntarily, the parties can proceed directly to contract negotiations without an election. Peter Rickman, president of MASH, told WUWM, “Workers formed a union here at Discourse Coffee to have a voice and a seat at the table to protect what they love about their work and this company.”

Cat & Cloud Organizing Effort Covers 70 Workers

In California, Cat & Cloud employees sent a letter to the company’s owners last week stating their intention to unionize. Two days later, they learned the company would voluntarily recognize the union.

Barista and organizer Nakoa Shoemaker told Lookout Santa Cruz that the union would represent 70 workers across Cat & Cloud’s four locations. In an Instagram statement, the union said workers had raised concerns with management about low pay—in a county with some of the highest living costs in the country—poor scheduling practices, and a lack of communication from leaders.

“We want to make space to openly talk about these issues, and have Cat & Cloud meet us with transparency and respect,” the union wrote.

Cat & Cloud co-founder and CEO Jared Truby told Lookout Santa Cruz, “I foresee this being an amazing opportunity to continue to do things that we’ve already and always attempted to do, which is to create the best working experience ever.” He added, “It’s not a me-versus-you or an us-versus-them thing. That’s the worst thing that could be possible for our culture.”

Kaldi’s Coffee Boycott Over Union Recognition

Separately, organizers at Kaldi’s Coffee announced a boycott of the specialty chain’s newest location on the campus of Washington University in Missouri, aiming to pressure the company to recognize their union. In November, workers at eight Kaldi’s cafes in St. Louis announced their intent to unionize. One location held its election in January, but the National Labor Relations Board has not yet certified the results after several ballots were challenged.

Organizers said the boycott would continue until Kaldi’s voluntarily recognized the union. At a town hall event on Washington University’s campus, barista Aliyah Wilcox said, “We’re asking you as our community to leverage every ounce of power that you’ve got to make sure when Kaldi’s can’t give us consistent hours and fair pay, that they don’t invest the money in opening a whole new store; make it make sense.”

Kaldi’s declined St. Louis Business Journal’s request for comment, but said in a statement: “Kaldi’s respects our team members’ rights under federal law to discuss working conditions and make their own choices about union representation. Any decision on unionization is theirs to make. Any claim of a final result is premature, as the NLRB has not yet certified the results of January’s election.”