Some members of the Starbucks labor union SBUX.O, which represents more than 10,000 barista workers, went on strike in several U.S. cities on Friday, citing unresolved issues over wages, hiring and scheduling.
The five-day strike, which began on Friday and closed Starbucks cafes in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle, will extend to Columbus, Denver and Pittsburgh through Saturday, the union said in a statement.
This is the latest in a series of labor actions that have accelerated across service industries after a period in which workers at manufacturers in the auto, aerospace and railroad industries received significant concessions from their employers.
At Starbucks, the United Workers union, which represents employees at 525 stores across the United States, said late Thursday that strikes would escalate daily and could reach “hundreds of stores” across the country by Christmas Eve.
“It is estimated that 10 of the 10,000 stores operated by the company were not open today,” Starbucks said, adding that there was no significant impact on store operations on Friday.
About 20 people joined a picket line at a Starbucks location on Chicago’s north side, amid snow and wind, but they were chanting in response to the horns of passing cars.
A few confused customers tried to enter the closed store before strikers began chanting, but union member Chip Searle said the reaction was mostly positive.
Searle said 100% of unionized workers at a Starbucks location in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood were participating in the strike, and according to workers, they were subjected to numerous unfair labor practices including write-outs, “captive audience” meetings, and firings. .
They earned about $21 an hour, the union member said, adding: “That would have been great pay in 2013.”
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Coffee industry workers said that this is insufficient pay, given inflation and the high cost of living in a large city, especially since they rarely get 40 hours of work per week.
Employees picket outside a Starbucks store, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Chicago.
AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato
The workers ignore the offer
Negotiations between the company and United Workers began in April, building on a firm framework agreed to in February, which could also help resolve several outstanding legal disputes.
The company said Thursday that it has held more than nine bargaining sessions with the union since April, reaching more than 30 agreements on “hundreds of topics,” including economic issues.
The Seattle-based company said it was ready to continue negotiations, claiming that union representatives prematurely ended this week’s negotiating session.
However, the union said in a Facebook post on Friday that Starbucks has yet to submit a serious economic proposal with less than two weeks remaining until the year-end contract deadline.
The workers’ group also rejected an offer not to raise wages immediately and guarantee a 1.5% increase in the coming years.
“The labor union’s proposals call for an immediate increase in associates’ minimum hourly wages of 64%, and by 77% over the life of the three-year contract. This is not sustainable,” Starbucks said on Friday.
In response to Starbucks’ statement on the proposals, Michelle Eisen, Starbucks barista and negotiating representative, said: “Starbucks’ characterization of our proposals is misleading and they know it. We are ready to finalize a framework that includes new investments in the coffee industry in the first year of the contracts.”
Separately, the barista union said Friday it had filed a new labor practice charge against the cafe, alleging that Starbucks “refused to bargain and engaged in bad faith bargaining” over economic issues.
Hundreds of complaints have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), accusing Starbucks of illegal labor practices such as firing union supporters and closing stores during labor campaigns. Starbucks has denied any wrongdoing and said it respects workers’ right to choose to join a union.
Work towards a transformation
Last month, the NLRB said Starbucks violated the law by telling workers at its flagship Seattle coffee shop that they would lose benefits if they joined the union.
“It (the strike) is occurring during one of the busiest times of the year for Starbucks, which could magnify its impact while leading to unwanted public scrutiny of the company’s labor practices,” Emarketer analyst Rachel Wolfe said.
The café chain is transforming itself under the leadership of its newly appointed boss, Brian Nicol, who aims to restore “café culture” by overhauling its cafés and streamlining its menu among other measures.
“Given how much Starbucks is already struggling to win customers, it cannot afford any negative publicity — or impact on sales — that a strike could bring,” Wolf said.
The Starbucks workers’ strike comes in the same week that Amazon.com AMZN.O workers at seven U.S. facilities walked off the job on Thursday, during the holiday shopping rush.
There were 33 layoffs in 2023, the most since 2000, though far fewer than in past decades, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Qhow.
(Reporting by Renee Hickman in Chicago and Gursimran Kaur, Saviyata Mishra and Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru, Additional reporting by Chandni Shah and Rishabh Jaiswal; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Pooja Desai, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Diane Craft)
