Starbucks baristas are getting ready for an open-ended all-out strike to force the company to deal fairly and come to terms on a first-ever union contract.
Starbucks Workers United now represents more than 12,000 workers at over 650 Starbucks coffee shops in 45 states, all since the first store became union December 2021. Not one of the stores has a union contract.
For the first several years, Starbucks waged an anti-union campaign that included numerous instances of firing union supporters. Over the course of that campaign it committed more than 500 of violations of federal labor law according to the National Labor Relations Board.
Bargaining over a national template agreement did eventually get under way in April 2024. For a few months it seemed like Starbucks Workers United and the company were making progress, Workers United President Lynne Fox said in a September op-ed. Starbucks representatives were meeting with 150 union delegates in-person, with another 250 participating in the process virtually. Over nine months, they reached tentative agreements on 33 non-economic items.
Negotiations broke down in December after a new CEO took over. Brian Niccol took home $96 million for his first four months on the job, during which Starbucks finally presented its wage offer: no raise in the first year, and a 1.5% raise a year after that. The company also rejected union proposals to improve scheduling or address understaffing. In April, the nearly 500 barista bargaining delegates rejected that offer overwhelmingly.
In a Sept. 19 letter, the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Bakers, OPEIU and 10 other unions — plus dozens of nonprofit groups — called on Starbucks to settle a fair contract and pledged that members won’t cross strike picket lines.
Voting to authorize such a strike began Oct. 24 and wrapped up Nov. 5, with 92% voting to authorize a strike.
