Some members of the workers’ union representing more than 10,000 baristas at Starbucks in the United States have begun a five-day strike at stores in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle, citing unresolved issues over wages, staffing and schedules.
The strike, which started on Friday, is the latest in a series of labour actions in the US that have picked up pace across service industries following a period when workers of automotive, aerospace and rail manufacturers won substantial concessions from employers.
The Starbucks Workers United Union, which represents employees at 525 stores across the US, said late on Thursday that walkouts would escalate daily and could reach “hundreds of stores” nationwide by Christmas Eve.
“It’s estimated that 10 stores out of 10,000 company-operated stores did 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, buffeted by snow and wind, but cheering in response to the honking horns of passing cars.
A few confused customers tried to walk into the closed store before strikers began chanting, but union member Shep Searl said the reaction had been mostly positive.
Searl said 100 percent of the unionised workers at the Starbucks location in Chicago’s Edgewater neighbourhood were participating in the strike and, according to the workers, they have been subject to numerous unfair labour practices including write-ups, “captive-audience” meetings and firings. (A captive-audience meeting is a mandatory meeting organised by a firm where employees are interested in unionising and where it brings in labour relations consultants to talk about the pros and cons of unionising.)
The union members said they made about $21 an hour and added that this “would have been a great wage in 2013”.
It is an inadequate wage, the baristas said, given inflation and the high cost of living in a large city, especially since they rarely got 40-hour work weeks.
“We’re planning to escalate if we need to,” they said.
Deadlock
Negotiations between the company and Workers United began in April, based on an established framework agreed upon in February, which could also help resolve numerous pending legal disputes.
The company said on Thursday it has held more than nine bargaining sessions with the union since April, and reached more than 30 agreements on “hundreds of topics”, including economic issues.
The firm, whose headquarters are in Seattle, said it was ready to continue negotiations, claiming the union delegates prematurely ended the bargaining session this week.
The union, however, said in a Facebook post on Friday that Starbucks had yet to present a serious economic proposal with less than two weeks remaining until the year-end contract deadline.
The workers’ group also snubbed an offer of no immediate wage hike and a guarantee of a 1.5 percent increase in future years.
“Workers United proposals call for an immediate increase in the minimum wage of hourly partners by 64 percent, and by 77 percent over the life of a three-year contract. This is not sustainable,” Starbucks said on Friday.
Hundreds of complaints have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), accusing Starbucks of unlawful labour practices such as firing union supporters and closing stores during labour campaigns. Starbucks has denied wrongdoing and said it respects the right of workers to choose whether to unionise.
Last month, the NLRB said that Starbucks broke the law by telling workers at its flagship Seattle cafe that they would lose benefits if they joined a union.
“It’s [the strike] taking place during one of the busiest times of the year for Starbucks, which could magnify its impact while bringing unwanted public scrutiny into the company’s labour practices,” Rachel Wolff, an analyst with market researcher Emarketer, said.
The coffee chain is undergoing a turnaround under its newly-appointed boss Brian Niccol, who aims to restore “coffee house culture” by overhauling cafes and simplifying the menu, among other measures.
“Given how much Starbucks is already struggling to win over customers, it can ill afford any negative publicity – or impact to sales – that the strike could bring,” Wolff said.
The union has called for support at the picket lines in the three cities starting at about 18:00 GMT, according to a post on X.
The Starbucks workers’ strike comes in the same week as Amazon workers at seven US facilities walked off the job, on Thursday, during the holiday shopping rush.
There were 33 work stoppages in 2023, the most since 2000, though far lower than in past decades, data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed.