Starbucks employees at over 100 U.S. stores are on strike today in the biggest strike since a campaign to join the Starbucks stores began late last year.
Starbucks employees are on strike in almost all states
The walkouts occur with Starbucks and annually celebrated Red Cup Day when Starbucks gives away disposable cups to customers who purchase drinks for the holiday season. The employees say it’s among the busiest times of the year. Starbucks has yet to say how many red cups it plans to give away.
They say they’re looking for higher wages, more regular schedules, and more staffing levels in the busy shops. Starbucks stores across 25 states are planning to participate in the protest, According to Starbucks Workers United, the organization that is organizing the action. Strikers are handing out red cups bearing union emblems.
Starbucks, which opposes the unionization plan, said they are aware of protests and are respectful of its employees’ rights to protest lawfully. The Seattle company said protests are taking place in a limited number of its 9,000 corporate-owned U.S. locations.
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Starbucks said in a statement on Thursday that it was “remaining committed to our partners of all sorts as we continue to work with one another to develop Starbucks, an organization that works for all people.”
Certain workers stay on strike all day, while others plan to do smaller walkouts. The union claimed that the aim was to close down stores during the strike. They also said that the company typically isn’t able to staff stores on Red Cup Day because it’s hectic.
Silvia Baldwin (26) and Tzvi Ortiz, 31, have said they enjoy being baristas for Starbucks. They love working at the 34th Street and Chestnut Street Starbucks in Philadelphia. But their job has become more complex, as the store is understaffed. The shop is trying to take orders for delivery and in-person orders simultaneously.
“It’s impossible to sustain. It’s very stressful,” Ortiz said. “And most people don’t pay attention, just like the people behind this gathering.”
Baldwin, who sits on the store’s bargaining committee and is frustrated that the union hasn’t had the chance to negotiate with Starbucks. The strike on Starbucks’ most busy day was motivating and is likely to “be unavoidable,” she said.
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Others, such as Michelle Eisen, a union organizer at one of the first Starbucks to join unions in Buffalo, New York, claimed that workers are furious because Starbucks offered higher pay and benefits for non-union stores. Starbucks insists it’s adhering to the law and cannot offer union-owned stores a pay increase without bargaining.
In a cafe in Seattle just three miles away from Starbucks headquarters, workers reported that Starbucks’ managers served drinks while baristas gathered outside.
Seattle barista Micah Lakes said, “It’s been over a year since we told Starbucks that we were creating a union at the shop, and we aren’t able to negotiate with them on the date of negotiations.” “We’re certainly not going to be working the day that’s most crucial for you if you’re not willing to agree to sit down with us and discuss what we’re looking for from Starbucks.”
According to the National Labour Relations Board, at least 257 Starbucks stores have voted to organize since the end of the year. There have been 57 stores that have held elections where employees opted not to join a union.
Starbucks and the labor union started negotiations for a contract in 53 locations, and 13 more sessions are planned, Starbucks Workers United said. The union and Starbucks have yet to reach an agreement to date.
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The proceedings have been controversial. Last week, the NLRB regional director requested an order of injunction for Starbucks at a Federal Court, declaring that the company had violated labor laws when it fired an employee who was a union organizer from Ann Arbor, Michigan. The regional director urged the court to order Starbucks to let the worker back in and stop interfering with the unionization process across the nation.
This is the 4th time in a row that the NLRB has sought a federal court to intervene. In August, the federal judge ruled that Starbucks was required to bring back seven workers who had been dismissed at the time of their dismissal in Memphis, Tennessee. The same case in Buffalo is still to be decided, and the federal judge decided in favor of the NLRB in an instance in Phoenix.
Additionally, Starbucks has asked the NLRB to temporarily stop all union elections in Starbucks’ U.S. stores, citing allegations made by a board member that regional officials did not correctly coordinate and union leaders. A decision on the matter is in process.
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