Kunc's Colorado Edition

This coming Tuesday, employees at the Starbucks on Colfax Avenue in Denver will learn if they’ve voted to unionize. Their effort is part of a recent and historic uptick in worker activism across the country, driven partly by the impact of working conditions during the COVID pandemic. There are more than fifty Starbucks locations in the U.S. that have recently voted to unionize, including one in the town of Superior – the first in Colorado to do so.But pro-union employees at this particular Denver store say their efforts have resulted in backlash from the company. Nick Bowlin is a freelance journalist based in Colorado. He wrote about what’s been happening in an excellent, in-depth piece that was published this week in The Guardian.Interview HighlightsThese interview highlights have been lightly edited for length and clarity.Erin O’Toole: Can you start with just a bit of a background about why employees at Starbucks might want to unionize? Not everyone is familiar with unions. I know there are a lot of myths a