Starbucks unionized baristas go on strike for 'grande' pay, benefits
The coffee chain’s employees say the one-day walkout on Thursday, which is the company’s Red Cup Day, is for a fair contract, claiming Starbucks gives additional benefits to non-union stores.
Thousands of Starbucks Corp. baristas plan to strike Thursday, claiming the coffee chain refuses to fairly negotiate with their union, which is fighting for better pay and benefits.
The work stoppage is pegged to the company’s Red Cup Day, when Starbucks gives out holiday-themed reusable cups. Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, says staff at hundreds of cafes plan to participate. It’s one of several tactics — along with outreach to politicians and to students on campuses where Starbucks has contracts — that the union has deployed in an effort to make the company change its behavior. “You can only win what you’re willing to fight for,” said Alex Yeager, a barista in Albany, New York, in an emailed statement.
It’s a repeat of last year, when baristas went on strike at 113 cafes on Red Cup Day amid accusations that management was refusing to negotiate. The union said it expects Thursday’s strike to be its largest to date, and 30 locations around the country began a work stoppage as of Wednesday.
Nearly two years have passed since Workers United notched its first landmark victory at a Starbucks cafe in Buffalo, New York. Since then, more than 350 of the chain’s 9,000 corporate-run US locations in more than 40 states have voted to join the union. But none of the locations has come close to securing a union contract with the company, and the pace of the union’s growth has drastically slowed.
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Regional directors of the US National Labor Relations Board have issued more than 100 complaints against the company, alleging illegal anti-union tactics including closing stores, firing activists, and refusing to fairly negotiate at unionized cafes.
Starbucks has denied wrongdoing, and has said the union is the one refusing to negotiate in good faith. The company said this week that it hopes the union’s “priorities will shift to include the shared success of our partners and working to negotiate union contracts for those they represent.” Recently, Starbucks raised wages and introduced better benefits at non-union stores, but says unionized stores need to bargain over receiving these same benefits.
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