More than 1,000 unionized Starbucks workers went on strike at 65 U.S. stores Thursday to protest a lack of progress in labor negotiations with the company.<\/p>\n
The strike was intended to disrupt Starbucks\u2019 Red Cup Day, which is typically one of the company\u2019s busiest days of the year. Since 2018, Starbucks has given out free, reusable cups on that day to customers who buy a holiday drink. Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing baristas, said Thursday morning that the strike had already closed some stores and was expected to force more to close later in the day.<\/p>\n
Starbucks Workers United said stores in 45 cities would be impacted, including New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Diego, St. Louis, Dallas, Columbus, Ohio, and Starbucks\u2019 home city of Seattle. There is no date set for the strike to end, and more stores are prepared to join if Starbucks doesn\u2019t reach a contract agreement with the union, organizers said.<\/p>\n
Starbucks emphasized that the vast majority of its U.S. stores would be open and operating as usual Thursday. The coffee giant has 10,000 company-owned stores in the U.S., as well as 7,000 licensed locations in places like grocery stores and airports.<\/p>\n
As of noon Thursday on the East Coast, Starbucks said it was on track to meet or exceed its sales expectations for the day at its company-owned stores.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day is off to an incredible start,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Around 550 company-owned U.S. Starbucks stores are unionized. More have voted to unionize, but Starbucks closed 59 unionized stores in September as part of a larger reorganization campaign.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what\u2019s behind the strike.<\/p>\n
Striking workers say they\u2019re protesting because Starbucks has yet to reach a contract agreement with the union. Starbucks workers first voted to unionize at a store in Buffalo in 2021. In December 2023, Starbucks vowed to finalize an agreement by the end of 2024. But in August of last year, the company ousted Laxman Narasimhan, the CEO who made that promise. The union said progress has stalled under Brian Niccol, the company\u2019s current chairman and CEO. The two sides haven\u2019t been at the bargaining table since April.<\/p>\n
Workers say they\u2019re seeking better hours and improved staffing in stores, where they say long customer wait times are routine. They also want higher pay, pointing out that executives like Niccol are making millions and the company spent $81 million in June on a conference in Las Vegas for 14,000 store managers and regional leaders.<\/p>\n
Dochi Spoltore, a barista from Pittsburgh, said in a union conference call Thursday that it\u2019s hard for workers to be assigned more than 19 hours per week, which leaves them short of the 20 hours they would need to be eligible for Starbucks\u2019 benefits. Spoltore said she makes $16 per hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want Starbucks to succeed. My livelihood depends on it,\u201d Spoltore said. \u201cWe\u2019re proud of our work, but we\u2019re tired of being treated like we\u2019re disposable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The union also wants the company to resolve hundreds of unfair labor practice charges filed by workers, who say the company has fired baristas in retaliation for unionizing and has failed to bargain over changes in policy that workers must enforce, like its decision earlier this year to limit restroom use to paying customers.<\/p>\n
Starbucks says it offers the best wage and benefit package in retail, worth an average of $30 per hour. Among the company\u2019s benefits are up to 18 weeks of paid family leave and 100% tuition coverage for a four-year college degree. In a letter to employees last week, Starbucks\u2019 Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly said the union walked away from the bargaining table in the spring.<\/p>\n
Kelly said some of the union\u2019s proposals would significantly alter Starbucks\u2019 operations, such as giving workers the ability to shut down mobile ordering if a store has more than five orders in the queue.<\/p>\n
Kelly said Starbucks remained ready to talk and \u201cbelieves we can move quickly to a reasonable deal.\u201d Kelly also said surveys showed that most employees like working for the company, and its barista turnover rates are half the industry average.<\/p>\n
Unionized workers have gone on strike at Starbucks before. In 2022 and 2023, workers walked off the job on Red Cup Day. Last year, a five-day strike ahead of Christmas closed 59 U.S. stores. Each time, Starbucks said the disruption to its operations was minimal. Starbucks Workers United said the new strike is open-ended and could spread to many more unionized locations.<\/p>\n
The number of non-union Starbucks locations dwarfs the number of unionized ones. But Todd Vachon, a union expert at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, said any strike could be highly visible and educate the public on baristas\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n
Unlike manufacturers, Vachon said, retail industries depend on the connection between their employees and their customers. That makes shaming a potentially powerful weapon in the union\u2019s arsenal, he said.<\/p>\n
Starbucks\u2019 same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, rose 1% in the July-September period. It was the first time in nearly two years that the company had posted an increase. In his first year at the company, Niccol set new hospitality standards, redesigned stores to be cozier and more welcoming, and adjusted staffing levels to better handle peak hours.<\/p>\n
Starbucks also is trying to prioritize in-store orders over mobile ones. Last week, the company\u2019s holiday drink rollout in the U.S. was so successful that it almost immediately sold out of its glass Bearista cup. Starbucks said demand for the cup exceeded its expectations, but it wouldn\u2019t say if the Bearista will return before the holidays are ove<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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