Over the past six months, the Starbucks Workers United union campaign has been more successful than almost anyone expected. Workers have voted to unionize in National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) elections at over a hundred eighty stores and over three hundred stores have petitioned for union elections. The union has won most elections by overwhelming margins, gaining between 70-80 percent of the total votes cast so far, and it has won repeatedly in parts of the country in which private sector unions rarely win. The Starbucks campaign has inspired young workers across the country and breathed life into a labor movement whose official leadership has at times appeared out of touch with a new generation of labor activists.

Starbucks Workers United has shown that parts of the labor movement are organizationally flexible and adaptable enough to serve the needs of the independent-minded and self-assured young activists among the ranks of the company’s baristas. Indeed, it offers a replicable model for how the union establishment can support and facilitate the self-organization of young activists, while providing the elbow room they need to grow and preserve the grassroots dynamism of their campaign.

But Starbucks’ unlawful union-busting campaign has also been much worse than almost anyone expected. Much worse. CEO Howard Schultz appears steadfastly determined to squeeze the life out of the union that an enormous number of its workers so obviously want.