A “budtender” at a cannabis store in Victoria. An employee at a movie theater in downtown Vancouver. A cashier at a university grocery store. They don’t have much in common, except that they and their coworkers voted to join a union in the past month.

After decades of decline, private sector unions in British Columbia are gearing up to grow, hoping that a combination of high costs, low unemployment, and new changes to provincial law will pave the road for expansion.

It’s happening where you might not expect it: in cafés, cinemas, and other brick-and-mortar businesses with relatively few staff and high turnover. Call it the Starbucks effect. Organizers say the high-profile union drives at the coffee giant’s stores in the United States — and now Canada — have had a ripple effect, emboldening young workers already itching for change as inflation eats into their savings.