10 Facts About Jaz Brisack

Jaz Brisack was born on August 11,1997 and is an American union organizer, author, and barista.

Jaz Brisack started their career in 2016 working as a teacher-advisor for the Sunflower Freedom Project, and in 2017 working part-time in a campaign with United Auto Workers to unionize a Nissan factory in Canton, Mississippi.

In 2018, one of Jaz Brisack's papers, Organizing Unions as Social Policy, was published in the Global Encyclopedia of Public Policy and Public Administration.

In 2019, Jaz Brisack relocated to Buffalo, New York, following Richard Bensinger, whom they had worked with on Nissan unionizing, to start a union organizing campaign at SPoT Coffee.

In 2020, Jaz Brisack joined the Elmwood Avenue Starbucks as a barista.

Jaz Brisack recalled thinking it was "now or never," and launched a then-secret campaign with Bensinger and Workers United to unionize Starbucks.

Jaz Brisack was employed by Service Employees International Union at the time.

Jaz 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.

Jaz Brisack was at the time expected to appeal that decision and has denied the allegations that it is union busting, and claims that the firings were for violations of its security rules.

Jaz Brisack left Starbucks in September 2022, claiming to have been forced out.