Starbucks workers: Impoverished and oppressed fight back
The “Low Wage 20” is a list of 20 firms that currently employ 6.7 million people across the United States — Amazon, FexEd, Starbucks, Tyson Foods and Walmart make the list routinely — but their crimes against workers are growing more horrendous every day.
Starbucks is apparently the worst offender, with the largest CEO-to-worker pay gap according to the Institute for Policy Studies, which prepares the list. Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) states on its Facebook and Instagram pages: “The median Starbucks worker only makes about $14,500 a year … and those ‘world class’ benefits they tout ($30.00/hour) are tied to an hour minimum many of us can’t access due to inadequate scheduling.”
Starbucks joins other companies that pay wages that have not kept up with inflation despite rising CEO salaries. As SBWU points out, “Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol made a staggering 6,666 times more than the median barista in 2024 alone.” The actual amount was $95 million.
It would cost less than the company’s sales in a single day for Starbucks to meet the union’s contract demands.
This is why SBWU has insisted that Starbucks return to the bargaining table. The company’s intransigence forced workers at many union stores to launch a strike on Nov. 13, 2025. The union is calling on Starbucks patrons to delete the Starbucks app on their phone, stop buying Starbucks products and spread the word about the need to support Starbucks workers.
The workers’ demands are:
- Three workers on the floor — always
- $17/hr starting wages for lowest-paid baristas
- 4% annual raises for economic security
- Available hours go to current baristas
- A fair dress code
- Non-discrimination and just cause protections
- Health and safety protections
- No more union busting
Nick’s story
Nick is a shift supervisor at a Starbucks store in Missouri. Originally, he thought he would just endure the work until he graduated from college, but the low pay, the insufficient hours and the way the company treated him and the other workers became too much. He reached out and found that workers in other Starbucks stores in his town had organized into a union. Nick joined them and brought the struggle back to his job.
It turned out that all the workers at Nick’s job felt the same way he did, and they fought for a union, together, and got it. His sense of belonging to a group that wanted to make things better — not only for themselves, but for everybody connected with them and everybody who came after them — was very inspiring.
Nick stated: “Together, we’re demanding the pay, hours, staffing and protections baristas need to succeed — and it would only cost Starbucks less than one day’s sales. Starbucks, it’s time to land a union contract and move forward!” (SBWU on Instagram)
Here’s the big news: Starbucks has finally agreed to resume negotiations over a contract!
The union declared, “This happened because of every barista who organized, every ally who took action, every post shared and every person who showed up.” (Starbucks Workers United, March 29)
And this is how impoverished, exploited and oppressed workers fight back — and win.
