Starbucks workers across the United States kicked off an open-ended unfair labor practice strike last week, with a 92% “yes” vote to strike. Workers began the strike on Starbucks’ “Red Cup Day,” the start of the holiday drink menu rollout, and have since expanded in waves to 95 stores in 65 cities, with 2000 baristas now on the picket line.
Hundreds of workers and allies also blockaded a Starbucks distribution center in York, PA, linking arms and turning around trucks in an impressive show of force outside the hub that serves the entire northeast region.
The baristas’ union, Workers United, has been fighting for a contract since its formation in 2021, and has filed over 1000 unfair labor practice charges, primarily around bad faith bargaining, unilateral policy changes, and retaliatory firings and discipline. The National Labor Relations Board has identified more than 400 labor law violations, and the Administrative Law Judges have recently recommended a cease and desist order against Starbucks’ vicious union-busting practices.
The Starbucks union movement was able to gain momentum through its use of worker-to-worker organizing, in which baristas train each other in collective bargaining and spread the movement from store to store. Starbucks workers demonstrated the ability of rank-and-file organizing to build a powerful, nationwide movement in an industry that has not been historically organized.
Workers have much to gain during this strike, as the average barista currently takes home a paycheck that is below the federal poverty line. As Jasmine Leli, a barista from Buffalo, NY stated, “Too many of us rely on SNAP or Medicaid just to get by… and we’re not getting the 20 hours a week we need to qualify for benefits.” Meanwhile, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol (infamous for his child labor law violations as former CEO of Chipotle) brings home a jaw-dropping $98 million, or 6,666 times the earnings of the average employee. This is the widest pay gap by far in the AFL-CIO’s annual Executive Paywatch report.
A wave of lawmakers, including 26 senators and 82 congressional representatives have signed a letter supporting the baristas’ union. In addition, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Seattle mayor-elect Katie Wilson have committed to not buying Starbucks during the strike.
Although their support is encouraging, we know it is workers on the ground and not the politicians who bring the power to this movement. This holiday season, we’ll be skipping the Starbucks drive-thru line and standing with our fellow workers in their historic fight for a fair union contract.
