SEATTLE—More than 1,000 unionized Starbucks workers, representing 65 stores in over 40 different cities, are striking across the country as of Thursday, November 13, to protest what they’re calling “stalled contract negotiations” with the Seattle-based coffee giant.
The union’s demands are for a fair union contract with improved staffing, hours, take-home pay, and on-the-job protections, it says.
According to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Administrative Law Judges have found Starbucks to have committed over 400 labor law violations, including firing pro-union employees, threatening store closures, spying, intimidating, and creating policies that hinder union activity.
Starbucks, on the other hand, has disagreed with the judge’s decisions.
“If Starbucks keeps stonewalling a fair contract and refusing to end union-busting, they’ll see their business grind to a halt,” said Michelle Eisen, Starbucks Workers United spokesperson and 15 year veteran barista. “No contract, no coffee is more than a tagline—it’s a pledge to interrupt Starbucks operations and profits until a fair union contract and an end to unfair labor practices are won.”
Workers United, the union representing Starbucks workers, has filed more than 1,000 Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs) against Starbucks – 125 of those since the beginning of the year alone. Of these, 700 are currently unresolves and include alleged bad faith bargaining, unilateral policy changes, and specific ULP’s around retaliatory firings and discipline, the union says.
“Starbucks knows where we stand. We’ve been clear and consistent on what baristas need to succeed: more take-home pay, better hours, resolving legal issues. Bring us NEW proposals that address these issues so we can finalize a contract. Until then, you’ll see us and our allies on the picket line,” said Eisen.
However, according to Starbucks, the union – which represents less than 4% of Starbucks’ 240,000 total employees – is the entity who is refusing to negotiate.
Back in April, 2025, for example, despite over 200 hours of negotiation and more than 30 tentative agreements reached, Workers United left the bargaining table and took “an incomplete framework” to their delegates for a vote, a Starbucks spokesperson told the Lynnwood Times.
At the beginning of the month, Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly, issued a letter to all Starbucks Partners (what the company calls its employees due to being issued shares), reinstating the company’s commitment to bargaining with the union, in addition to listing of investments the company has made recently for its employees. Some of those investments include $500 million on Green Apron partner hours to get more workers on the roster, committing to internal promotional opportunities, meeting 85% of its workforce with preferred scheduling, as well as implementing tools that assist workers in working shifts that best suit their schedules and lifestyles.
“We’re disappointed that Workers United, who represents less than 4% of our partners, called for a strike instead of returning to the bargaining table. Less than 1% of our coffeehouses have experienced any level of disruption, and the vast majority of our 240,000 partners are coming to work ready to serve customers,” Jaci Anderson, a Starbucks spokesperson, told the Lynnwood Times. “We’ve been very clear – when the union is ready to come back, we’re ready to talk. The facts show people like working at Starbucks. Partner engagement is up, turnover is nearly half the industry average, and we get more than 1 million job applications a year. Any agreement needs to reflect the reality that Starbucks offers the best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits for hourly partners.”
Anderson continued that the assertion that the contract with Workers United could be settled for a day’s worth of sales is an uninformed assumption at best, intended to make a complex discussion sound simple.
In addition, according to Anderson, some of the union’s proposals would “significantly affect store operations and customer experience”, such as the ability to shut down channels like Mobile Order when there are just five orders in the queue.
Workers United proposed a pay increase of 65% immediately and 77% over three years with additional payments for certain working conditions. For example, the union demanded additional pay for working within three hours of opening or closing, working during the weekend, receiving inventory, and working on a day when Starbucks runs a promotion.
Anderson informed the Lynnwood Times that these are not “serious, evidence-based” proposals.
Unable to reach an agreement, Workers United voted to strike, beginning on Thursday, November 13.
At the Seattle picket lines on Pike Street, Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson spoke in defense of the union saying:
“I am proud to join them [the Starbucks Workers Union] on their picket line and proud to say loud and clear, I am not buying Starbucks and you should not either,” said Mayor-elect Wilson.
The strike impacts the following cities: Anaheim, CA; Long Beach, CA; San Diego, CA; Santa Clarita, CA; Santa Cruz, CA; Scotts Valley, CA; Seal Beach, CA; Soquel, CA; Colorado Springs, CO; Lafayette, CO; Alpharetta, GA; Roswell, GA; Des Plaines, IL; Evanston, IL; Geneva, IL; Chanhassen, MN; Minneapolis, MN; Saint Louis, MO; Brooklyn, NY; New York, NY; Columbus, OH; Lewis Center, OH; Reynoldsburg, OH; Upper Arlington, OH; Worthington, OH; Beaverton, OR; Damascus, OR; Eugene, OR; Gresham, OR; Portland, OR; Dickson City, PA; Lancaster, PA; Philadelphia, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Dallas, TX; Denton, TX; Farmers Branch, TX; Mechanicsville, VA; Richmond, VA; Redmond, WA; and Seattle, WA.
Back in December of 2021, Starbucks baristas won their first union election establishing the Starbucks Workers Union.
Two years later, in November 2023, the union led what was called “the Red Cup Rebellion” – striking on the company’s annual Red Cup Day, one of Starbucks’ consistently busiest days of the year where they distribute complementary plastic red cups to holiday drink purchasers.
“We had a great day – 99% of our coffeehouses remained open and welcoming customers and we exceeded our sales expectations across company-operated coffeehouses in North America, making it the best Red Cup Day ever,” a Starbucks spokesperson told the Lynnwood Times when asked how this years’ event turned out.
In 2024, Starbucks and Workers United announced a Path Forward, heralded as an historic breakthrough, where the company committed to negotiation and foundational framework for contracts.
Negotiations began that year but by December, 2024, the union accused Starbucks of backtracking on its agreed-upon Path Forward promise and waged the largest-ever ULP “Strike Before Christmas” in Starbucks’ history with more than 5,000 participants.
One year after bargaining began, more than 500 union delegates voted to reject a foundational framework package that included Starbucks’ latest economic proposals, which failed to improve wages or benefits in the first year of the contract and didn’t put forth proposals to address chronic understaffing, the union said.
Now, union workers have returned to the picket lines demanding better hours to address understaffing, improved take-home pay, and the protections workers feel entitled to do their job.
According to the union, the remaining dispute is over less than a single average day’s sales, less than 4 months of CEO Niccol’s 2024 compensation, less than one quarter of one percent of the company’s annual revenue. However, Starbucks says this is an “uninformed assumption.”
“I’ve never seen an employer act with such reckless disregard for breaking labor laws over and over again. I’ve also never seen an employer that makes so much money offer workers so little,” said Lynne Fox, President of Workers United, which represents 90,000 workers across industries including Starbucks baristas. “Starbucks is trying to break workers’ momentum through union busting and delays and intimidation tactics. But it’s not working. Instead, it’s only fueled baristas’ organizing and our resolve. If Starbucks truly wants to rebuild its brand, it is time to stop stonewalling, start bargaining, and address its ongoing violations of federal labor law.”
The average Starbucks barista makes $15 to $16 an hour in the U.S.—or $19.38 per hour in Washington state—according to job site posting boards such as Indeed. Starbucks employees also receive a range of benefits including health coverage (medical, dental, vision), financial and retirement plans (401k match, stock equity), and educational assistance like free college tuition.
Still, for a company who makes nearly $40 billion a year, according to Stock Analysis, and who’s CEO, Brian Niccol, received approximately $95.8 million in total compensation for his first four months in late 2024, the union says this is not enough.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
One Response
LOL! What a pathetic action. It’s an ENTRY LEVEL JOB for skills, there’s zero reason to be unionized, unless they’re extorting the money for their purposes and using the strikers as pawns.
These strikers need to be careful that they’re not replaced by a high end Cappuccino machine that will provide the customer what they want and w/o the whining and btchg.
Keep at it and protest yourself out of a job.