Inside the Compass Coffee unionization tumult
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Compass Coffee founder Michael Haft. Photo: Craig Hudson/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Late last month, Compass Coffee was facing a swirl of bad PR over a brewing unionization drive, when it reached out to Jade Womack, a young D.C. influencer. The chain wanted a local personality to join an annual all-expenses-paid trip to one of its contract coffee farms, this time in Bali.
- Womack was initially thrilled to help tell the story of a local brand. But the headlines kept piling up.
The big picture: Union organizers had accused management of putting dozens of friends and business execs on café payrolls in an attempt to sabotage their efforts, a claim the chain denies.
- Womack began to wonder: "Am I just a PR coverup?" A week later, she politely withdrew from the trip — which Compass provided proof was in the works before the unionization push, messages shared with me show.
Why it matters: In D.C., labor fights are increasingly staked over the food industry, and in this case, the commodity that powers its creative and political economy — coffee.
- And in a liberal city, local brands put their reputations at stake if the masses perceive them as heavy-handed toward unions. (see: Politics & Prose or Wydown cafe).
Flashback: Two former Marines started Compass in Shaw in 2014. Its airy cafés felt more welcoming to the average Joe than the hipster java caves of the era, and it quickly expanded to 18 sites — all while remaining a darling of the scene.
- "We always wanted to be specialty coffee that was fun and not pretentious or snobby," cofounder Michael Haft told me.
- Mayor Muriel Bowser turned to Compass in February to lure workers back to their downtown offices, handing out free coffee. The Washington Post partnered with it for a "Post Brew" special-edition dark roast.
But while the company's hometown roots grew deeper, workers organizing for a union say they have "endured years of mismanagement." Despite the price of drinks going up, "our wages remain unlivable."
Zoom in: A unionization vote is scheduled for July 16.
- In the runup, its workers have complained that a hiring spree is aimed at weakening their support.
- According to Restaurant Dive's reporting, about five dozen new workers were hired across the seven cafés that seek to unionize. They include a general counsel to a U.S. senator; Graham McLaughlin, a snack food brand executive and former D.C. Council candidate; and Cullen Gilchrist, CEO of Union Kitchen.
- 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.
The other side: Haft says he "doesn't want to talk about specific employees" — I asked whether a CEO will be a barista, for example — and he adds that the list of voting employees won't be known until July 14. "We'll see if those people are included," he told me.
- 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.
- "We've increased barista pay by 26% and we've increased supervisor pay by 28% since 2019, which is faster than inflation," he says.
Meier-Silverman, for her part, says she wants "ensured job security" and that baristas want tips to be reinstated after the chain stopped taking any in 2020.
💭 Town Talker is a weekly column about money and power in Washington. My favorite coffee drink is a cortado. Send home latte art tips to [email protected].