Starbucks baristas at 65 of the roughly 550 unionized locations went on strike on Nov. 13, one of the biggest annual sales days for the coffee shop chain. Workers at seven locations in the Portland area and two in Eugene joined from the start of the strike. The first day of what Starbucks Workers United called the Red Cup Rebellion coincided with Starbucks’ Red Cup Day, when the company releases holiday beverages and gives out promotional reusable cups.
The strike has no set end date, and strikers were still out on Nov. 18 when this issue went to press.
Unionized Starbucks locations have struck in the past, but mostly one-day strikes or just a few locations at a time. This is the largest and longest strike the union has undertaken.
“This feels like the strike that will win us our contract,” said Abigail Darling, a barista at the Garden Home location in Southwest Portland. “It’s Starbucks’ most profitable time of the year, they’re in crisis mode, trying to turn things around …. We just keep applying pressure.”
More locations represented by Starbucks Workers United are expected to join the strike in the coming weeks.
The Valley Plaza location in Beaverton closed on the first day of the strike, with dozens of baristas and supporters rallying together. The store at 172nd and Sunnyside in Happy Valley was open, staffed by scabs. Out of the nine Oregon locations on strike as of Nov. 17, seven were closed. Happy Valley was open with normal hours, while the Oregon Trail location in Gresham was open until 10 a.m.
The first Starbucks location unionized in New York in December 2021. There are now 550 unionized Starbucks locations, including 41 in Oregon. Nationwide, Starbucks has around 10,000 company-owned stores and 7,000 licensed locations inside other businesses, like grocery stores or airports.
Both sides have blamed the other for stalled negotiations. The union is seeking higher wages and better hours to address understaffing. The union also wants an end to Starbucks’ union busting. Starbucks Workers United has filed more than 1,000 unfair labor practice charges against the chain.
“We are no longer going to be intimidated by a corporation, but instead, we are here declaring and demanding better staffing, higher take home pay and a resolution for the hundreds of unfair labor practices (and) union busting that Starbucks has committed,” Nathan Garcia, a shift supervisor at the recently-unionized Barbur and Capitol location, told the crowd outside Valley Plaza on the first day of the strike.
The union is asking supporters to skip their Starbucks runs and sign a pledge at nocontractnocoffee.org.
