In 2012–2015, baristas engaged in union drives at five cafes in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In a series of semi-structured interviews with participants in and supporters of these drives, it became clear that issues of gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity were critical in understanding why and how these union drives evolved: women and queer baristas experienced gender-based discrimination and marginalization at work; they were noted leaders in some of the drives and drew on activist networks to rally community support for the unionization effort. Finally, issues of gender and sexuality informed some of the baristas’ broader economic analysis. We argue that the barista union drive in Halifax illustrates a framework for understanding how gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation inform unjust experiences in precarious workplaces and strategies for confronting them. A gendered analysis of the barista union drives underscores the importance of organized labor’s outreach to young workers and, further, that engaging with workers with attention to intersectionality is an important organizational strategy.
CharlesMGruskyDB (2005) Occupational Ghettos: The Worldwide Segregation of Women and Men. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
12.
CharmazK (2004) Grounded theory. In: Hesse-BiberSNLeavyP (eds) Approaches to Qualitative Research: A Reader on Theory and Practice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 496–521.
13.
ChunJJ (2016) The affective politics of the precariat: Reconsidering alternative histories of grassroots worker organising. Global Labour Journal7(2). Available (accessed 29 September 2016) at: https://mulpress.mcmaster.ca/globallabour/article/view/2483
14.
CobbleD (1991) Organizing the postindustrial work force: Lessons from the history of waitress unionism. Industrial Labor Relations Review44(3): 419–436.
15.
CranfordCVoskoLFZukewichN (2003) Precarious employment in the Canadian labour market: A statistical portrait. Just Labour3(Fall): 6–22.
16.
CrenshawK (1989) Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum1989(1): 139–167.
FrankM (2015) Out in the Union: A Labor History of Queer America. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
21.
FranzwaySFonowMM (2009) Queer activism, feminism and the transnational labor movement. Scholar and Feminist Online7(3). Available (accessed 8 April 2015) at: http://sfonline.barnard.edu/sexecon/ff_01.htm
GrantJMMottetLATanisJet al. (2011) Injustice at every turn: A report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Report of the National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce. Available (accessed 14 February 2016) at: http://www.thetaskforce.org/static_html/downloads/reports/reports/ntds_full.pdf
HautRKellyNMishlerM (2009) Youth activism in the labour movement: 3 perspectives. New Labor Forum18(1): 98–107.
26.
HughesKDTadicV (1998) “Something to deal with”: Customer sexual harassment and women’s retail service work in Canada. Gender, Work & Organization5(4): 207–219.
KatzLFKruegerAB (2016) The rise and nature of alternative work arrangements in the United States, 1995-2015. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 22667.
KroegerTCookeTGouldE (2016) The class of 2016: The labor market is still far from ideal for young graduates. Economic Policy Institute. Available (accessed 15 July 2016) at: http://www.epi.org/publication/class-of-2016/
31.
KurigaK (2006) Young workers are the future of organized labor. New Labor Forum15(2): 34–40.
MeierKJMastracciSHWilsonK (2006) Gender and emotional labor in public organizations: An empirical examination of the link to performance. Public Administration Review66(6): 899–909.
36.
MilkmanR (2014) Millennial movements: Occupy Wall Street and the Dreamers. Dissent61(3): 55–59.
37.
MilkmanR (2017) A new political generation: Millennials and the post-2008 wave of protest. American Sociological Review82(1): 1–31.
PullenAThanemTTylerMet al. (2013) Sexual politics, organizational practices: Interrogating queer theory, work and organization. Gender, Work & Organization23(1): 1–6.
40.
SalzingerL (2003) Genders in Production: Making Workers in Mexico’s Global Factories. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
41.
SassenS (2000) Women’s burden: Counter-geographies of globalization and the feminization of survival. Journal of International Affairs53(2): 503–524.
SonkaJ (2014) Union grounds: Smokey’s Bean to become Louisville’s first unionized coffee shop. Leo Weekly. Available (accessed 10 November 2014) at: http://leoweekly.com/news/union-grounds
Statistics Canada (2017b) CANSIM - 477-0105 - Unemployment rates of 25- to 29-year-olds, by educational attainment, Canada and provinces. Available (accessed 11 July 2017) at: http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&id=4770105
47.
SweeneyJJ (1999) The growing alliance between gay and union activists. Social Text61: 31–38.
48.
TannockS (2001) Youth at Work: The Unionized Fast-food and Grocery Workplace. Philadelphia PA: Temple University Press.
49.
TannockS (2002) Why do working youth work where they do? A report from the young worker project. Report, University of California Berkeley Labor Center, March.
50.
VoskoLF (2011) Managing the Margins: Gender, Citizenship, and the International Regulation of Precarious Employment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
51.
WarnerT (2002) Never Going Back: A History of Queer Activism in Canada. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
