[8] Brisack finished their typically two-year scholarship at the Wadham College, Oxford in one year with a Master of Science in intellectual history.
Brisack recalled thinking it was "now or never," and launched a then-secret campaign with Bensinger and Workers United to unionize Starbucks.
[17] In late August 2021, Brisack and 48 other baristas in the Buffalo area wrote a letter to Kevin Johnson, Starbucks chief executive officer, informing the company of their intent to form a union.
[20] Three weeks later, Brisack and the other Elmwood baristas organized a strike after a bargaining meeting regarding protections for workers from the COVID-19 Omicron variant had been unsuccessful.
[5] Brisack told the press, "We’ve said from Day One that all we had to do was win one store," and said they recognized that to organize a "great" contract with Starbucks, they would need to unionize additional Starbucks stores around the country, and started a grassroots organizing campaign using social media.
[3] The campaign garnered the support of the Democratic Socialists of America,[21] Senator Bernie Sanders, House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,[3] and a member of Seattle, Washington's city council, where Starbucks is headquartered, Kshama Sawant.
"[3] On March 1, 2023, Starbucks was found to have violated labour-laws on hundreds of counts by an administrative judge at the National Labour Relations Board.
[20] The company was at the time expected to appeal that decision[20] and has denied the allegations that it is union busting,[24] and claims that the firings were for violations of its security rules.