Baristas at Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea announced that they filed to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board in an Instagram post Thursday evening. Workers at four Ann Arbor locations will be organizing together as a single bargaining unit.
Sweetwaters baristas are unionizing for higher wages, better benefits and dependable scheduling, according to the post. Participating Sweetwaters include the Michigan Union, the West Washington Street, the Westgate Library and the Ann Arbor-Saline Road Meijer locations.
The locations will be represented by Teamsters Local 243, the local chapter of the international union International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which helps local workforces form unions.
Sweetwaters baristas’ push to unionize follows other recent labor organizing actions in Ann Arbor, including the unionization of four Starbucks locations in June 2022 and the United Auto Workers contract agreements with the Big Three automakers and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Correction: A former version of this article reported that Teamsters Local 243 is a nationwide nonprofit. Teamsters Local 243 is an international union, and the article has been updated to reflect the correct information.
Daily News Editor Rebecca Lewis can be reached at rebeccl@umich.edu.