Starbucks employees and supporters react as votes are read during a union-election watch party in 2021 in Buffalo, N.Y. Starbucks workers voted to unionize over the company’s objections, pointing the way to a new labor model for the 50-year-old coffee giant.
Joshua Bessex/AP
The Starbucks Workers United union says baristas are going on strike for five days in three metropolitan areas, as the organization and Starbucks have failed to agree on a new contract before the end of the year.
SWU says the strikes will start Friday and go until Christmas Eve, a stretch it is calling “‘Twas the Strike Before Christmas.”
The union said some workers in Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago will join the picket line as Starbucks has recently offered a contract that included no raises for the immediate future, and raises of 1.5% in coming years.
The union said Tuesday that 98% of Starbucks Workers United members voted Tuesday to authorize a strike.
Starbucks Workers United workers first unionized in 2021, and now represent more than 10,000 employees. They are asking for a minimum wage of $20, annual raises of 5%, a fair scheduling process, better healthcare and enhanced paid leave protocols.
In a statement emailed to NPR on Friday, Starbucks said it has held more than nine bargaining sessions with the union and reached over 30 “meaningful agreements on hundreds of topics” since April. But said Workers United proposals call for an immediate increase in the minimum wage of hourly partners by 64%, which it views as “not sustainable.”
In February, Starbucks and the union released statements saying they had made progress in negotiations, and Starbucks said it would work in 2024 to resolve litigation between the company and the union and develop a fairer process in letting employees organize.
“Since February, Starbucks has repeatedly pledged publicly that they intended to reach contracts by the end of the year – but they’ve yet to present workers with a serious economic proposal,” the union said.
Starbucks Workers United said the strikes would continue to “escalate … unless Starbucks honors our commitment to work towards a foundational framework.”
Starbucks said Friday that union delegates “prematurely ended our bargaining session this week” and called on them to return to the table.
“We are ready to continue negotiations to reach agreements,” a Starbucks spokesperson said.
NPR’s Rachel Treisman contributed reporting.
