INDIANAPOLIS — Workers at a Downtown Indy coffee shop are pushing to improve pay and benefits.
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This comes as the minimum wage in Indiana is $7.25, which hasn’t gone up since 2009.
Baristas at Quills Coffee on N. Meridian Street joined one of the largest groups of unionized property service workers in the country, 32BJ SEIU.
“Coffee [is] so much more than a drink," barista Kristen Pankratius said. "You see the same people every day. Different people every day. You have the opportunity to have a lasting impact on people for the rest of their day, the rest of their week.”
Pankratius is passionate about her career but says it’s tough to make ends meet.
“Rent is outrageous. Healthcare is outrageous if you have to buy it privately. It’s a struggle, it’s a struggle all around. Even for people who make more than we do here," she said.
That’s why she and her coworkers negotiated for higher wages, paid family leave and workplace protections.
Key contract provisions include:
- Strong raises and annual step increases
- Four weeks of paid family leave — a first for Quills employees
- Improved holiday pay: three fully paid, closed-shop holidays for all staff
- Time-and-a-half for baristas who work during holidays
- Bereavement leave: up to three paid shifts for full-time workers, one paid shift for part-time workers
- Minimum staffing and fair scheduling
- Daily overtime pay at 1.5× for over eight hours/day
- Emergency shift protection for closures due to mechanical, staffing or health emergencies
- Improved breaks: 30-minute paid break added to 15-minute paid break
- Expanded leave options: personal, medical and union leave
- Union orientation for new hires
- Neutrality agreement for any future or out-of-state Quills locations
“We want to make sure that anybody that works here can sustain a career. Everyone working food service in general should be able to do what they want for as long as they want to and not feel like it’s a side thing or that it’s lesser than anything else," Lead barista Fern Thompson said. “Being able to set an example for other working-class people is great.”
Many service industry workers in Indiana go without these protections.
Just last month, 19 states raised their minimum wages, but Indiana continued to hold at the same rate.
“It does typically fall on party lines, where democrats are much more likely to advocate for higher minimum wage. Republicans are much more hands-off and would like the market to determine what wages get paid," Economist at IU Kelley School of Business Kyle Anderson said.
"What’s started to happen is wages have started to go up much higher than that on their own. We had a workers' shortage in 2022-2023. That competition drove up wages. That’s really, from an economic perspective, that’s really valuable. We want to have workers that are earning higher wages, because their output matches that,” Anderson added
Quills leadership welcomed the decision and emphasized the company’s collaborative relationship with its unionized workforce.
“Quills has been grateful to see such a positive experience with the unionization of its employees in Louisville, and that is made even more evident by the team at our Indianapolis location seeking to join SEIU,” Director of Operations at Quills Bryan Beach said. “This brings the company into an even better harmony moving forward, and we hope to continue to see positivity and growth as a result of this support for the employees.”
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Nico Pennisi is the In Your Community reporter for Downtown Indy. He joined WRTV in October 2022. His passion has always been telling the stories of people who often get overlooked. Share your story ideas and important issues with Nico by emailing him at nico.pennisi@wrtv.com.
