Starbucks Workers United members picket outside a Starbucks store in Chicago, Illinois, US, on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. The union, which represents employees at more than 500 of Starbucks’ US 10,000 company-operated stores, said workers decided to go on strike after the coffee chain presented a package that offered no immediate raises for baristas in the union. Photographer: Vincent Alban/Bloomberg via Getty Images
More than 100 Starbucks stores were on strike as of Christmas Eve, the company confirmed, as thousands of baristas that work at the coffee giant say unfair labor practices and stalled negotiations over pay has led them to the picket lines.
The strike, which began Friday in Los Angeles, Chicago and Starbucks’ hometown of Seattle, continued spreading to stores across the country over the weekend. By Monday, workers at stores in Boston, Dallas, Oregon, Denver, Pittsburg and New York had also joined the strike.
Workers are protesting a lack of progress in contract negotiation with the company. Starbucks Workers United, which began the unionization effort in 2021, said Starbucks has failed to honor a commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year.
The union also wants the company to resolve outstanding legal issues, including hundreds of unfair labor practice charges that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board. Since 2021, baristas at 535 company-owned U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to join the union.
The two side have been bargaining since the spring but appear to have reached an impasse over economic issues. Starbucks said it has committed to an annual pay increase of 1.5% or more for unionized workers. If the company gave a lower increase to non-union workers in any given year, it still would give union workers a 1.5% increase.
“I am paid $15.49 an hour as a barista, while Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol’s compensation package has been valued at more than $50,000 an hour when you break it down, a barista at a Starbucks store in Ashland, Oregon said in a release.
Starbucks said its U.S. baristas make an average of $18 per hour. With benefits — including health care, free college tuition and paid family leave — Starbucks’ pay package is worth an average of $30 per hour for baristas who work at least 20 hours per week, the company said.
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“We respect our partners’ right to engage in lawful strike activity, and we appreciate the thousands of partners across the country who are continuing to support each other and deliver the Starbucks experience for our customers,” the company said Monday in a statement.
Tuesday, Starbucks said the union "prematurely ended" this week's bargaining session.
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"It is disappointing they didn’t return to the table given the progress we’ve made to date," Starbucks statement continued.
The strike comes at one of the busiest times of the year for Starbucks. But the company said Monday it has had “no significant impact” to its store operations. Starbucks has around 10,000 company-operated stores in the U.S.
