Starbucks workers launch countrywide strike

Red Cup Day, Starbucks’ busiest day of the year, was the day Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) launched an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike, hitting 65 stores in 45 cities. The strike began with 1,000 union workers walking out, but more of the 12,000 SBWU members at around 650 unionized stores will be walking out in the days to come. A vote to authorize a strike began in late October, with 92% of union members voting in favor of striking.

Hundreds of Starbucks union baristas and their supporters held a picket line and rally outside a Starbucks store at Lafayette and Grand avenues in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 13. Accompanied by tambourines and whistles, they chanted “No Contract, No Coffee,” the primary strike slogan. Baristas spoke about the terrible working conditions at Starbucks and the company’s refusal to negotiate a contract.

Rami Saaed, who has been a barista at the Lafayette store for two years, said the union has been clear in contract negotiations that it wants better take-home pay, more regular hours and a resolution of the hundreds of ULPs that are endemic to Starbucks, the three main contract demands. She noted that Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol was paid $96 million in just four months in 2024. 

Saeed pointed out that: “Working full time, it would take me 2,941 years to earn the same amount.Brian Niccol thinks that he can shut us up, that if he shuts down enough union stores, that if he fires enough unionized partners, if he gets managers to work at my store and allows the harassment of our union partners, that we will just fold over, that we will just back down. We are going to fight. We are going to show those parasites and those leeches in the boardroom who make their profits. We are going to shut down stores across the country until they come to the table prepared to treat us fairly, to treat us with dignity and meet our demands.”

Another barista who recently transferred to New York City from a Starbucks store in Durham, North Carolina, noted that every day, workers around the world go on strike to defend themselves against the worsening conditions that bosses force on them. “Every action, whether it’s a union vote, a walk out, a strike, is an act of rebellion against an unjust and exploitative system,” she said. “These acts of rebellion are battles in a broader war. So, it’s time we tap into our collective power and win not just at Starbucks but everywhere. Workers of the World Unite!”

Starbucks workers at the Alpharetta, Georgia, store held an afternoon rally outside the location. Dozens of community and other union members gathered to celebrate the successful shutdown of the usually busy store. A second Metro Atlanta Starbucks in Roswell was also successfully closed. Both are located in shopping centers that experience high volume sales.

These examples are being replicated from coast to coast in what is turning into a very successful strike.

Dianne Mathiowetz and Brenda Ryan contributed to this article.