Starbucks workers plan strikes at more than 100 stores
Starbucks workers at more than 100 US stores say they will go on strike Thursday in what would be the largest industrial action since a campaign to unionize the company’s stores began late last year.
The strikes are said to coincide with Starbucks’ annual Red Cup Day, when the company is giving free reusable cups to customers who order a Christmas drink. Workers say it’s often one of the busiest days of the year. Starbucks declined to say how many red cups to give out.
Workers say they want better pay, more consistent schedules and more staffing at busy stores. Starbucks opposes union efforts, saying the company works best when it works directly with employees. The Seattle coffee giant has more than 9,000 company-owned stores across the United States
According to Starbucks Workers United, the organizing group, stores in 25 states plan to get involved in the labor action. Some workers planned all-day pickets, while others planned shorter strikes. The union said the aim is to close the shops during the strikes.
Willow Montana, a shift supervisor at a Starbucks store in Brighton, Massachusetts, planned to go on strike because Starbucks failed to start negotiations with the store despite a successful union vote in April.
“If the company isn’t bargaining in good faith, why would we work where we’re understaffed, underpaid and overworked?” Montana said.
Others, including Michelle Eisen, a union organizer at one of the first unionized stores in Buffalo, New York, said workers were upset that Starbucks promised non-union stores higher wages and perks. Starbucks says it abides by the law and can’t give union stores a raise without negotiating.
At least 257 Starbucks locations have voted to unionize since late last year, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Fifty-seven stores have held votes in which workers have chosen not to organize.
Starbucks and the union have started contract talks at 53 stores, with 13 additional meetings planned, Starbucks Workers United said. So far no agreements have been made.
The process was controversial. Earlier this week, a regional director of the NLRB filed a request for a preliminary injunction against Starbucks in federal court, saying the company violated labor laws when it fired a union organizer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The regional director asked the court to order Starbucks to reinstate the employee and end its nationwide interference in the union organizing campaign.
It was the fourth time the NLRB had asked a federal court to intervene. In August, a federal judge ruled that Starbucks had to reinstate seven union organizers who had been fired in Memphis, Tennessee. A similar case in Buffalo has yet to be decided, while a federal judge ruled against the NLRB in a case in Phoenix.
Meanwhile, Starbucks has asked the NLRB to temporarily suspend all union elections at its US stores, citing claims by a board employee that regional officials failed to coordinate properly with union organizers. A decision in this case is still pending.
Our new weekly Impact Report newsletter will examine how ESG news and trends are shaping the roles and responsibilities of today’s leaders – and how best to address these challenges. Subscribe here.
