The nationwide strike at Starbucks that launched loudly last November ended up tapering off quietly from December to February.
Starbucks Workers United began an open-ended strike Nov. 13 with more than a thousand workers at 65 of its roughly 550 unionized locations and expanded the strike to 120 stores by Nov. 28. According to the union, the strike peaked in December with more than 4,500 baristas at 230 stores.
By early February, the strike was down to about 1,000 baristas at fewer than 50 stores. Baristas from the five Oregon stores that were on strike went back to work Feb. 17.
“We’re viewing it as a shift change,” Cara Lawrenson told the Labor Press in February. Lawrenson is a shift supervisor at the Starbucks at Southeast 102nd and Stark in Portland.
A union spokesperson told the Labor Press no locations are currently on strike. But the union’s call for consumers to boycott Starbucks continues.
Starbucks Workers United called the strike to protest the company’s withdrawal from contract negotiations. The two sides haven’t met since December 2024. Now they are set to meet for bargaining again starting in April.
In February, Starbucks Workers United sent the company what it called a comprehensive contract proposal and then shared those terms publicly on March 13. The proposal includes a $17 wage floor. That’s down from its previous proposal of $20 but still above Starbucks current starting wage, which is at or below $16 in 43 states. The union also calls for 4% annual raises, protections against store closures, a requirement that stores have at least three workers on the floor at all times, a commitment to offer open hours to existing employees before hiring new ones, a grievance process, and the resolution of hundreds of pending unfair labor practice charges.
Starbucks continues to close stores, including a suspiciously high proportion of unionized stores, Starbucks Workers Union alleges in unfair labor practice charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board.
The union has also engaged in shareholder activism. On Feb. 17, several investor groups, along with the comptrollers of the state and city of New York, wrote to Starbucks shareholders urging them to oppose the re-election of two Starbucks board members at the company’s March 25 annual meeting. The two were targeted for their lackluster performance on a committee that was created to revamp the company’s approach to labor relations. At the annual meeting, the proposal to remove them failed.
Starbucks Workers United represents about 6% of Starbucks’ company-owned stores in the United States.
[CORRECTION: This article has been corrected. As originally posted, it said the union sent its comprehensive proposal to Starbucks the same day it shared them publicly.]
