On episode 235, we welcome Jaz Brisack to discuss unionizing efforts for Starbucks workers and Project Germinal, how unions form and why workers may fear them, the popular ideas of unions and how they’re misrepresented by corporate media, Jaz’s experiences in the Starbucks union and “salting,” whether corporate managers act in good faith, anti-union tactics and why they should be considered psychological warfare, and how workers can sustain a sense of hope in the face of their significant and persistent professional struggles.

Jaz Brisack is a union organizer and cofounder of the Inside Organizer School, which trains workers to unionize. After spending one year at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, they got a job as a barista at the Elmwood Starbucks in Buffalo, New York, becoming a founding member of Starbucks Workers United and helping organize the first unionized Starbucks in the United States. As the organizing director for Workers United Upstate New York & Vermont, they also worked with organizing committees at companies ranging from Ben & Jerry’s to Tesla. Their new book, available on April 29, 2025, is called Get on the Job and Organize: Standing Up for a Better Workplace and a Better World.

| Jaz Brisack |

► Website | https://www.insideorganizerschool.com

► Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/jazbrisack

► Twitter | https://x.com/jazbrisack

► Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/jaz.brisack

► Get on the Job and Organize Book | https://bit.ly/GetontheJobandOrganize

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