Starbucks strike grows
Unionized Starbucks stores across the country have been hit with strikes. The strike began Nov. 13 and has grown to include 100 of the roughly 650 union stores. Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) has no plans to end the strike until its contract demands are met.
Cleveland, Nov. 20, 2025. (WW Photo: Martha Grevatt)
SBWU has three main demands: guaranteed longer hours, higher hourly wages and the resolution of hundreds of Unfair Labor Practice charges the union has filed in response to Starbucks bosses’ egregious union busting. The number of ULP charges filed against Starbucks with the National Labor Relations Board is the highest number against any company since the founding of the NLRB in 1935.
In Seattle, the strike is into its second week. These workers have shut their busy store down for several days. Nov. 19, 2025. (WW Photo: Jim McMahan)
Starbucks workers and supporters rallied outside the University Circle store in Cleveland on Nov. 20, where workers walked out earlier that day.
Among the supporters who expressed solidarity was Lauren Beene, a doctor who, along with Dr. Valerie Fouts-Fowler, was fired by University Hospitals in June for union organizing of doctors.
Two other Cleveland area Starbucks stores are currently on strike. More workers at stores here and around the country are expected to join the strike if the company does not agree to SBWU’s contract demands.
