WEBVTT - How Unions Can Protect Trans Rights 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:05.000 Cool media. 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:10.400 It could happen here. I'm Garrison Davis, and yeah, it's happening. 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.160 The past few years, I've been writing about how the 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:15.840 religious right has been trying to roll back trans rights, 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.560 take away gender affirming health care, and essentially remove trans 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:23.119 people from public life. And the day that I'm writing this, 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.720 President Trump just issued an executive order aiming to ban 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:29.479 gender affirming health care for everyone below the age of 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:34.159 nineteen in the United States, with promises to weaponize the 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:38.120 Justice Department and alter the national Health guidelines for gender 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:43.599 affirming care. And unfortunately this is just the start. But 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:47.360 this won't be a wallowing in the Doom and Gloom episode, 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:50.680 nor will I be laying out the fool proof solution 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.680 to get us out of this predicament. Instead, we'll be 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:58.240 hearing from two people who are trying to do something 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:03.080 to affect change in the physical world. Last month, Mia 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:06.479 and I talked with Neha and Cassie, who are organizers 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:10.959 and baristas with Starbucks workers Unite It, and they also 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:15.920 co facilitate that union's trans rights action committee called Track 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:20.280 And specifically the topic of this episode is how to 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:22.959 use union organizing as a way to fight for trans 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:27.480 rights and secure access to gender affirming healthcare, which is 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:32.800 unfortunately an increasingly critical issue. We've already had conservative states 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:37.280 like Tennessee pressuring private insurance companies to drop covering gender 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:41.120 affirming care by blocking insurers from contracting with the state's 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:45.399 medicaid program, basically holding it hostage, and now with the 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.560 federal government threatening gender affirming care and seemingly more and 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:53.440 more restrictions kind of on the horizon. Working outside the 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.840 state and not relying on government programs like Medicare and 0:01:56.840 --> 0:02:01.760 Medicaid will only become more necessary, and union organizing is 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:06.280 one way to do that. A union contract, union infrastructure, 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.079 and the collective resources of you and your fellow union 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:12.080 workers can help protect trans people in the workplace and 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.400 get us the things we need. If you already have 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:18.040 a union at your workplace, you can get more involved 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.200 and fight to prioritize trans rights. And if you don't 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.680 have a union, you can work to secure access to 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:27.320 gender affirm and care through unionizing your workplace and having 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:31.360 healthcare protections as a core part of your contract. For 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:33.640 more on that topic, I'm going to play the conversation 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.880 between my fellow union member Mia and Neha and Cassie 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:42.000 from Starbucks Workers United, and I'll occasionally pop back in 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.840 to provide some context. Here's Cassie. 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:48.920 When you fight for a collective bargaining agreement, a contract 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:53.680 between union workers and their employer, you can fight for 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.840 gender affirming care to be included in the healthcare that's provided, 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:00.720 and make sure that that healthcare is affordable and actually 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:03.880 usable by the people working there, and that their wages 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.600 are adequate to cover out of pocket expenses, including travel 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:10.480 expenses if you live in a state that's coming under threat. 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:14.120 But it is not just healthcare that is under threat 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:18.240 right now. Just days into office, Trump already started to 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:23.520 roll back Biden era federal discrimination protections. Last Monday, the 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:27.200 Trump aadmin sent a memo ordering a freeze to all 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:31.680 federal grants, loans, and aid, requiring a sort of audit 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.080 to ensure the recipients of those funds use the money 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:39.560 in a way that quote conforms to the administration priorities unquote, 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:46.480 and not to promote quote DEI and woke gender ideology unquote. 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:50.960 On Tuesday, a judge temporarily halted the order, and on Wednesday, 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:55.360 the White House revoked the directive. But this clearly demonstrates 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:59.040 what the new priorities are for the conservative government, and 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.480 they will most certainly try this again, probably in a 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:08.280 more targeted discriminatory fashion to limit the general backlash. But 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:12.400 even as the government starts openly allowing discrimination or even 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:16.920 encouraging it, discrimination protections is still something that unions can 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:18.400 write into their contract. 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:24.039 Having non discrimination language in a contract that covers gender 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:28.480 identity is a really critical way to improve not just 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:30.479 for yourself, but then also we talk about these things 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.960 like hiring discrimination. If you get that kind of language 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:36.360 in a contract at a union job, that's going to 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:40.400 help everyone who comes after you. Because additionally, as a union, 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.800 you have the mechanism of enforcement of aggrievance and an 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:47.640 arbitration procedure. Right, that's sort of, you know, the critical 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.240 in addition to obviously all the kind of actions you 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:53.240 can perform. And you know, we can talk about what 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.120 things might look like without the NLRA, but for now 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.560 we have grievance and arbitration procedures still. And even in 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.599 states where there are legal protections against employment discrimination for 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:08.120 trans people, like here in California, the bar to defending 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:12.400 yourself legally is obviously a lot higher, including financially than 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:16.960 defending yourself through a grievance procedure at a union job. Right, 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.920 a grievance procedure at a union job is way more 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:23.080 accessible to the average working person than hiring a lawyer 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.160 and going through a legal system that is totally stacked 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.479 against you and in favor of the wealthy. Having a 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.960 union to defend you, you know, with the collective resources 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:37.240 of your union that you're part of, and having your 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:39.799 shop steward or you be a shop steward and filing 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:43.920 those grievances yourself. It's so much more accessible for regular 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:48.640 workers to get enforcement when they are discriminated against. And 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:51.039 that's obviously not only relevant for trans people, but it 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:52.880 is certainly relevant for trans people. 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.960 Now, if you don't have union organizing experience, this could 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:00.279 all seem a little intimidating, even if you are already 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.640 have a pre existing union at your workplace. Mia has 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.159 done a whole bunch of episodes on unions and labor 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:08.960 organizing on this podcast. You could certainly look to you 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:12.880 for more information and a bit of encouragement. In twenty 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:17.400 twenty three, Neha co founded TRACK the Trans Rights Action Committee, 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.520 which is a subcommittee of the Starbucks union that was 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.760 started to help advocate for trans rights within the union 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:28.200 and share information about the challenges trans workers were experiencing. 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:32.719 We asked Neha about the process of getting this focus 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:36.320 on securing trans healthcare through your union to be something 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:38.440 that the union collectively fights for. 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:42.320 The way that our union started focusing on trans healthcare 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.640 as one of the core issues, like we weren't organizing 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:50.080 around and all started with a conversation with like a 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:54.640 regional staffer here in Oklahoma. I have like a regular 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.080 check and call with my staffer, and this was like 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:01.200 two two and a half years ago, and he was 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:02.839 just like asking, you know, what's going on? 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:04.359 What are you concerned about? 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:07.960 And I was like, well, I'm having some issues with 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:14.280 like accessing healthcare. And he not heard like how difficult 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.480 it was for like trans people to access healthcare and Starbucks. 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:20.280 He wasn't aware of like how expensive it could be. 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:22.800 And as I started talking to him, he was like, 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:25.720 hold on, let me like set up a meeting with 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.520 some other people. I think they need to hear this too. 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:30.560 So then we have like a follow up meeting with 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:34.760 more like staff and other organizers. I talked about these 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.800 issues again, and one thing led to another thing, and 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.320 they ended up encouraging me to form a subcommittee with 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:46.400 their union for trans workers to kind of like build 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:50.080 community for us and connect us, but also hear more 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.640 stories from trans workers about the struggles that they were facing, 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:59.040 specifically in accessing healthcare. And so that's kind of how 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:04.360 TRACKS started. And it's been really moving to see how 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:07.600 over the past like two three years, this went from 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:10.040 like an issue that was affecting like a minority of 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:13.640 a minority of workers, right, Like, it's not like every 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.520 single work at Starbucks is trying to like have facial 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.080 comminization surgery or anything like that. 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.480 Right, This issue that. 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:24.400 Was affecting like a small step set of us ended 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.200 up becoming like one of the biggest issues we are 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.040 organizing around. It makes me really emotional when I think 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:35.360 about like how much my union coworkers and like my 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:39.040 comrades like actually like fucking care about trans people. Right 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:42.839 of kind of like how TRACKS started and how we 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:46.079 started to organize around trans healthcare specifically. 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.080 It's been a focus for us for a long time. 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:53.120 Also in part because the initial you know, our public 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.320 bargaining proposals that were released early on when we first 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:03.520 formulated our demands included improvements to gender affirming care at Starbucks. 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.320 And part of that's because there were trans people involved 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:12.360 in writing those initial demands, right and you know, Nehaw 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:17.280 was involved nationally in the campaign and had the opportunity 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:22.080 and the encouragement to start track. You know, we have 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.800 to be part of it, I think is on some level, 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.600 you know, the most basic prerequisite for everything that came 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:32.560 after is because trans people have been involved with this 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.680 campaign from the beginning. We do have so much support 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:39.720 and solidarity from our coworkers and from our fellow union comrades, 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:44.280 regardless of whether they're SIS or trans, And I think 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:46.840 part of that is because we've really showed up and 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:49.520 done the work. This again goes to that kind of 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:52.160 like false narrative of there's like some kind of contention 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:56.680 between workers rights and trans rights. It's like trans people 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.640 have been super motivated to get involved in this campaign 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:04.240 and for the rights and benefits for every worker at Starbucks. 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:08.000 Other workers have seen that, seen the way we've been 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:12.120 involved and dedicated, and that's given them the sympathy and 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.080 solidarity to stand by us for an issue that affects us. 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:17.800 Very you know directly and somewhat narrowly compared to a 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:21.439 lot of the other things we're fighting for. So yeah, 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.640 on some level, I think it comes down to unions 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:28.559 are a place where trans people can get involved in 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:30.360 political life in a way that's hard to do in 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.880 other parts of American political life, and you get to 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:37.040 build that solidarity, and if you're there at the table, 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.920 you have a chance to highlight the issues that are 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.000 important to us. And if you're fighting for everyone else, 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:44.360 they're going to want to fight for you too. 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:49.400 Track's logo says trans rights are labor rights, a phrase 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:51.959 one of Nahe's co workers came up with to express 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.920 the idea that even if your state becomes an unsafe 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:59.520 place for queer and trans people, trans people will still 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:02.800 fight to a sure that their workplace, their store, is 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.880 a safe place for any trans person who works there. 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:09.320 As the functioning of the state and the federal government 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:13.600 becomes more and more alienated and distant, or in many cases, 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:17.120 increasingly hostile to the likes of you and me, one 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.680 of the few ways we can still exert power over 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:23.960 our lives is through unions. Regardless of whether you live 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:29.400 in Portland, Oregon or Oklahoma City, and specifically as access 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:32.920 to trans healthcare becomes more and more of a growing issue, 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:35.800 this is becoming more of a core issue itself that 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:39.360 you can organize around and can actually build a union around. 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:44.000 Lots of different struggles have been highlighted in our campaign. 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:48.200 You know, we have really made racial justice a major 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:51.440 priority as well. I mean, obviously economic justice is at 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:55.040 the core of any union struggle, but you know, we're 0:11:55.840 --> 0:12:00.480 really invested in making sure all workers are in included 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.400 in this movement and their specific concerns are represented as 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:07.240 well as our general shared concerns. And as more and 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.199 more things get taken away at the level of federal 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:13.520 politics and state politics in many places, people will be 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:15.760 looking for recourse. It's like, how do I get back 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:20.480 the stability, the protections, the dignity, the power that I've lost, 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:24.400 Particularly if you know some of these folks are not 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:28.439 super democratically accountable. People will be looking for how they 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:33.960 can build power and how they can find security when 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:36.319 the state is not providing it and when the state's 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:41.360 actively undermining it. Actually, and unions are one of the 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:47.200 truly critical, irreplaceable answers for protecting yourself, for protecting the 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:50.680 people you work with, for protecting your community and for 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:53.160 taking back some of the things that they're trying to 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.439 take away from you, whether that's on the job protections, 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:02.200 whether that's economic equity, whether that is your access to 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:08.239 trans healthcare, whether that's protections from racism or misogynistic discrimination 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.760 in your job and harassment, all of these things. If 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:15.560 the state steps away, people should and will look to 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:19.480 labor organizing as the answer instead. 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:24.080 Our ability to build power in this way is a 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.600 way that we maintain hope so that we can keep 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:29.480 organizing for a better future. I think one of the 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:34.120 best tools like these fucking fascist freaks have is making 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:36.680 us feel like there's no hope. It's beating us down, 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:39.600 it's making us feel like we have no power. It's 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:44.400 making us feel completely disconnected from like the government, our workplace, 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:47.600 all of these different things that like exert power over us. 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.280 And I think labor is such a direct way to 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:52.280 give people that power back. 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.120 Yeah, morales a terran a struggle, and this is the 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.920 way that you can fight there. That does other things 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:01.640 too at the same time, which is important, And. 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.640 Do you know what else is important? Being subservient to 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:18.040 the capitalist impulse of pivoting to ads. Okay, we are back. 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:21.680 Here is more of our interview with Starbucks Workers United. 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:25.880 Yeah, I'm excited to talk to you because things have 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:29.080 been very bad. And one of the specific ways that 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:31.520 they've been very bad is that there's become this framing 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.120 and this has been around for a while, but it's 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:38.560 getting sort of increasingly adopted in mainstream circles that trans 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:42.880 rights are opposed to workers' rights, and that's just nonsense. 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:46.200 So I wanted to sort of start there with a 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:48.440 bit of a discussion about so the ways in which 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:50.320 the trans struggle is a worker struggle. 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:56.040 The trans community is like disproportionately like impoverished, like a 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:59.800 lot of us are struggling to just pay for rent, 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:03.200 are basic like needs, right, Yeah, I think that's framing 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:07.720 assumes that like all trans people are like, I don't know, rich, working, 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:11.120 attack or some shit like that, which just is not true. 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:11.560 Yeah. 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:13.760 The actual stats, by the way, these are running from 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:16.080 the US Trans Survey, which is the largest survey of 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:18.600 trans people in the US. Thirty four percent poverty rate 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:20.960 than the national number for assist people is eleven percent. 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:24.400 The unemployment rate is eighteen percent. The US unemployment rate 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.200 assist people is four percent, eighteen percent is nineteen thirty 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.720 six great depression levels of unemployment. Thirty percent of trans 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:33.440 people have experienced homelessness in their lives. The national rate 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:35.440 is about seven percent, And those numbers are actually very 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:40.000 misleading because it's actually much worse than that, because these 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:44.680 demographics skew young significantly because of both the shortness of 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.000 our life expectancy and how often we get killed. And 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:50.320 also there's more people who are realizing that they're trans 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:53.440 now than there ever has before. So those homelessness numbers, 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.119 we are we are racking up a rate of homelessness 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.600 that is four times higher than the regular rate, and 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:02.720 we're doing iticately less years than it takes the cispopulation 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:06.360 to rack up these levels of homelessness. So things are 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.840 extremely bad for trans people. Transfems make like sixty cents 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:12.960 on the dollar of like the average American worker. 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:16.000 Yeah, and I think you see that in our union 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:21.120 we have a lot of worker leaders who are trans. 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:24.960 It's a noticeable obvious fact about our unions that trans 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:28.720 people have really been deeply involved since day one at 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.920 all levels of this union. And I think part of 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:36.720 that is because Starbucks has been associated as a place 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:41.440 of economic stability and opportunity for trans healthcare for a 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.800 community that has relatively few opportunities. I mean, if you're 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.720 talking about eighteen percent unemployment, then you're talking about people 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:52.200 who certainly are going to have difficulty getting employer provided healthcare, 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:56.400 let alone employer provided healthcare that's going to include gender 0:16:56.400 --> 0:17:02.680 affirming care, right, And so Starbucks has been held up 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.320 as an opportunity for that for a lot of people. 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.240 It's obviously drawn a lot of us to the company. 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:11.639 Many of us started working there for that exact reason, 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:16.080 and then you know, have discovered in many cases that 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:19.200 it's actually not so accessible. You know, I can say 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.520 in my case, it's definitely one reason I started working 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:24.600 at Starbucks because I heard like, Hey, if you want 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:27.679 facial feminization surgery, go work at Starbucks. That was a 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:31.480 community tip. And then it turned out that I made 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:34.480 so little money that I qualified for Medicaid, And in California, 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:38.200 where I'm lucky enough to live for now, Medicaid covers 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:42.320 those things and is more affordable and accessible than the 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:45.760 Starbucks healthcare actually was, So I ended up relying on 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.679 Medicaid instead. And I think a lot of us have 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:53.080 felt and seen that dissonance between coming to this company 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:56.119 looking for opportunity, looking for a place that is inclusive 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:00.000 and will hire trans workers, it says, and a stense 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.399 offers trans healthcare, but then finding out where those gaps 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.919 are and realizing like, actually it's better for me to 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:09.240 stay on Medicaid, which is easy to do because I 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.359 make so little money at this job. It takes that 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:16.160 shine off. And I think, you know, our economic vulnerability 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:18.359 as a group is precisely what drove a lot of 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:22.800 us to seek improvements here. It's related to our transness, sure, 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:27.879 but it's also like just fundamental working class issues. We 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:30.679 need better wages, we need better healthcare. You know, that's 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.240 something everyone benefits from and everyone can relate to. 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:35.640 And I mean, I can also attest to the fact 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:41.520 that I started at Starbucks five years ago because I 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:45.080 needed to have access with gender firming care. I was 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.960 coming from a situation where I came out as a teenager. 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:52.480 I was disowned and kicked out on my family. I 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:53.920 didn't have access to college. 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:57.639 I was like basically on my own right, and I 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:01.480 had no idea how I'm going tomatically transition, And like 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.040 older trans women in my life told me to apply 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:06.920 to Starbucks. And it was also like one of those 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:10.359 things where like, again, I live in Oklahoma. It's not 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.280 like there's a ton of employers who are like super 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:14.920 excited to hire trans women. 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:15.600 Right. 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:17.960 That's something I also want to highlight because I don't 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:21.080 think people understand this at all. If there's cysts is 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:25.040 that the level of employment discrimination is staggering. It is, however, 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:26.720 hard if you are a SI person you think it 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:28.520 is to find a job, it is like thirty times 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:32.639 harder if you are trans. It's unbelievably difficult. And the 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.080 promise of just like any job that will hire a 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:40.080 trans person is a huge deal because you know, otherwise 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.360 odds are you walk in the door and they take 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:45.840 one look at you and like, you know, you're fucked, right, And. 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.560 I think that's how Starbucks kind of like advertises itself 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:52.879 too queer in trans workers, right, And I think this 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:56.080 is reflected in the demographic of my store. Ninety nine 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:59.520 percent of my coworkers are queer. A lot of us 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:02.000 are trans. There's like a lot of trans women who 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:04.280 work at my store. I actually don't even know if 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.160 we have a single straight coworker actually we have later 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:11.679 one token like diversity higher, but he literally just transfers. 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:14.359 I think it's all gay people, but no, like all 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:18.440 of us applied to Starbucks because like, what other options 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:21.520 do we have? Right, And again, in my case, I 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:25.000 applied to Starbucks because I needed access to gender firming care. 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:27.800 And over like the five years that I've worked here, 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:33.680 I've realized that while that benefit might look good on paper, 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:39.040 in practice, it's hard to actually qualify for that healthcare. 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:43.800 It can be completely unaffordable for a lot of us. Right, 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:47.680 Like last year, I made sixteen thousand dollars in total 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:53.480 from Starbucks, and like a disproportionate amount of that income 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:57.840 was just going towards healthcare, which doesn't even take into 0:20:57.840 --> 0:20:59.639 an account like rent or bills. 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:04.200 Or anything else. Like we're struggling to just fucking get by. 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:08.000 Something that Mia pointed out is that one of the 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:13.440 few places trans people are actually overrepresented is in union organizing. 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:17.840 Because trans people don't really have a safety net, fewer 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:20.400 of us can turn to or rely on family support, 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:23.400 so union organizing is one of the ways we can 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:25.360 directly fight for a better life. 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:29.040 But the current political climate as it is, it's even scarier. 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:32.159 I mean, Cassie was talking about not being able to 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:36.440 actually access the Starbucks healthcare, and I've defined other ways 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:40.040 to pay for gender firm and care, but I mean, 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:43.919 we're looking at like a Trump administration that could possibly 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:47.639 be trying to make it impossible for anyone to use 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:51.000 Medicare and Medicaid to cover gender firm and care. We're 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:54.800 looking at state by state like healthcare vans. Right, I 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:59.800 think it's more important than ever to organize and focus 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:04.480 on trans writes and our access to healthcare, our wages, 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:07.280 our safety at the workplace. Where else are we going 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:09.080 to protect ourselves like that? 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:12.879 The Starbucks union is also fighting for guaranteed scheduling and 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:16.359 better staffing in stores, and this relates directly to a 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:20.200 worker's ability to access health care and gender affirming healthcare. 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:24.840 Part of Starbucks healthcare being somewhat inaccessible is that employees 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:27.400 have to work a certain threshold of hours to qualify 0:22:27.440 --> 0:22:31.439 for benefits, including healthcare. Failure to get enough hours of 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:35.160 work scheduled means losing access to your own health care, 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:38.359 and this kind of reflects a more subtle form of 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:39.640 employment discrimination. 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:42.480 I can speak to this. I've heard this from many 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:47.240 other workers, it is such a struggle just to get 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:50.720 the minimum amount of hours to keep your benefits. I 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:54.240 was talking to another worker who was telling me about 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:58.440 how she had to like literally cry and beg her 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:01.760 manager to sketch her enough so she didn't lose access 0:23:01.760 --> 0:23:05.040 to gender firm and care. And of course this manager 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:10.320 was scheduling enough hours for other workers who weren't trans women, right, 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:13.680 And so I've been having like protections in a contract 0:23:13.880 --> 0:23:18.119 that guarantee a certain number of hours that are scheduling. 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:21.040 That kind of thing also makes it easier for us 0:23:21.080 --> 0:23:24.439 to maintain and keep the benefits that we need. 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:29.920 And obviously this benefits all workers because everyone benefits from 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:32.720 having enough hours to actually get the money you need 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:36.720 to live. The Starbucks union started the official bargaining process 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:40.000 with the company last April, and they were supposed to 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:43.440 have their final bargaining session last December, based on a 0:23:43.480 --> 0:23:46.480 shared expectation that the contract would be closed and ratified 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:48.919 by the end of twenty twenty four. 0:23:49.080 --> 0:23:54.480 So after nine months of bargaining, it's December or expecting 0:23:54.600 --> 0:23:57.680 to finish up contract bargaining, and after like a few 0:23:57.680 --> 0:24:00.439 months of like delaying and not really giving us a 0:24:00.520 --> 0:24:05.199