The only thing harder than winning a union election against a megacorporation is winning a first contract. So it’s not surprising that countless skeptics suggested that Starbucks workers wouldn’t be able to muster enough power to force management to the table. Thankfully, Starbucks baristas and organizers ignored their critics. And this week, it paid off.

Though details have not yet been released, a joint management-union statement on Tuesday announced an agreement to start bargaining a first contract in earnest. Skepticism is warranted, given the company had led a scorched-earth union-busting campaign over the past two and half years. But this deal does seem to constitute a white flag from Starbucks, since it requires the company to stop illegally denying equal benefits and credit card tipping to unionized workers. It’s hard to imagine why Starbucks would give away its most effective union-busting weapon unless it actually planned to start bargaining in good faith.

Though the struggle is far from over — organizing will need to ramp up to unionize thousands of stores and keep the bosses from backtracking — all signs point to a simple, if still hard to believe, conclusion: Starbucks workers are going to win a first contract. Not only have they taken on and beaten one of the largest corporations in the world; they’ve inspired a grassroots labor effervescence that could upend some of the pillars of America’s political economy — especially if other workers follow suit and established unions finally rise to the moment.