The walkouts coincide with Starbucks’ annual Red Cup Day, when the company gives away free reusable cups to customers who order a holiday drink. Workers say it’s often one of the busiest days of the year. Starbucks declined to say how many red cups it plans to distribute. Workers say they are looking for better pay, more consistent schedules and higher staffing levels in busy stores. Stores in 25 states planned to join the strike, according to Starbucks Workers United, the group organizing the effort. Strikers hand out their own red cups with union logos. Starbucks, which opposes the unionization effort, said it is aware of the walkouts and respects its workers’ right to legally protest. The Seattle company noted that the protests are taking place at a small number of its 9,000 company-operated U.S. locations. “We remain committed to all partners and will continue to work together, side by side, to make Starbucks a company that works for everyone,” the company said in a statement Thursday. WATCHES | Starbucks the target of union push:
Union efforts are coming to Starbucks, food service workers
Starbucks is the latest major food service company to see unionization efforts spread across Canada recently. Some workers planned to picket all day, while others will make shorter getaways. The union said the aim is to close stores during the strikes and noted that the company usually faces staffing difficulties during Red Cup Day because it is very busy. Willow Montana, a shift manager at a Starbucks store in Brighton, Massachusetts, planned to strike because Starbucks has not begun bargaining with the store despite a successful union vote in April. “If the company won’t negotiate in good faith, why come to work where we’re understaffed, underpaid and overworked?” Montana said. Others, including Michelle Eisen, a union organizer at one of the first stores to organize in Buffalo, New York, said workers are angry that Starbucks promised higher pay and benefits at non-union stores. Starbucks says it follows the law and can’t give unions wage increases without negotiations. At least 257 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late last year, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Fifty-seven stores held ballots where workers chose not to unionize. Striking Starbucks employees gather outside a store in Chicago on Thursday. The holiday coincides with the company’s annual Red Cup Day, when customers who order a holiday drink receive free reusable cups. (Nam Y. Huh/The Associated Press)
Chats in dozens of locations
Starbucks and the union have begun contract talks at 53 stores, with 13 more sessions planned, Starbucks Workers United said. So far no agreements have been reached. The process was controversial. Earlier this week, an NLRB regional director filed a request for an injunction against Starbucks in federal court, saying the company violated labor laws when it fired a union organizer in Ann Arbor, Mich. The district manager asked the court to order Starbucks to reinstate the employee and stop interfering with the national union campaign. It was the fourth time the NLRB has asked a federal court to intervene. In August, a federal judge ruled that Starbucks must reinstate seven union organizers fired in Memphis. A similar case in Buffalo has yet to be decided, while a federal judge ruled against the NLRB in a case in Phoenix. Meanwhile, Starbucks has asked the NLRB to temporarily suspend all union elections at its U.S. stores, citing allegations by a board employee that district officials improperly coordinated with union organizers. A decision is pending in this case.
