Friday, November 17, 2023

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Thousands of Starbucks workers go on a one-day strike on one of the chain's busiest days of year


Thu, November 16, 2023 at 


NEW YORK (AP) — Workers at more than 200 U.S. Starbucks locations walked off the job Thursday in what organizers said was the largest strike yet in the 2-year-old effort to unionize the company’s stores.

The Workers United union chose Starbucks' annual Red Cup Day to stage the walkout since it’s usually one of the busiest days of the year. Starbucks expects to give away thousands of reusable cups Thursday to customers who order holiday drinks.

The union said it was expecting more than 5,000 workers to take part in its “Red Cup Rebellion.” Workers were expected to picket for part of the day and visit non-union stores the rest of the day, the union said. Around 30 stores also staged walkouts on Wednesday.

Juniper Schweitzer, who has worked for Starbucks for 16 years, said she loves the company and its ideals but believes it's not living up to them.

“They have promised the world to us and they have not delivered,” said Schweitzer, who was picketing outside her Chicago store on Thursday.

Frequent promotions like Red Cup Day or buy-one-get-one-free offers put added stress on workers, who she said have no ability to switch off mobile orders or otherwise control the workflow.

“I mean, you can imagine the Starbucks orders. Decaf grande non-fat, three-and-a-half Splenda mocha with no whip. Multiply that by 100 and you have just drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink,” she said. "We just have basically an infinite amount of drinks and we’re understaffed and we’re underpaid and we’re sick of it.”

Edwin Palmasolis, a Starbucks employee for more than two years, joined the picket line Thursday in front of his New York store. His store voted to unionize last year, but so far Starbucks and the union haven't started bargaining. He thinks a contract would help improve working conditions at his busy Manhattan store.

“It’s been more of a downgrade than an uphill for us. It’s been exhausting trying to deal with their retaliation and not much of a change has been made in the past year,” he said.

Thursday’s strike was the fifth major labor action by Starbucks workers since a store in Buffalo, New York, became the first to unionize in late 2021. Workers at 110 stores walked out last year on Red Cup Day; most recently, a strike in June protested reports that Starbucks had removed Pride displays from its stores.

But the strikes have had little impact on Starbucks’ sales. For its 2023 fiscal year, which ended Oct. 1, Starbucks reported its revenue rose 12% to a record $36.0 billion.

Starbucks said Thursday that many of the stores with striking workers remained open, staffed by supervisors, managers and employees who chose not to strike or visited from nearby stores to pick up additional hours.

“We have nearly 10,000 stores open right now delighting our customers with the joy of Red Cup Day,” the company said.

At least 363 company-operated Starbucks stores in 41 states have voted to unionize since late 2021. The Starbucks effort was at the leading edge of a period of labor activism that has also seen strikes by Amazon workers, auto workers and Hollywood writers and actors. At least 457,000 workers have participated in 315 strikes in the U.S. just this year, according to Johnnie Kallas, a Ph.D. candidate and the project director of Cornell University’s Labor Action Tracker.

Starbucks opposes the unionization effort and has yet to reach a labor agreement with any of the stores that have voted to unionize. The process has been contentious; regional offices with the National Labor Relations Board have issued 111 complaints against Starbucks for unfair labor practices, including refusal to bargain. Starbucks says Workers United is refusing to schedule bargaining sessions.

Starbucks noted that it has started bargaining with the Teamsters union, which organized a Starbucks store outside of Pittsburgh in June 2022. But the two sides have not reached a labor agreement. An employee answering the phone at the store Thursday said it wasn't participating in the strike.

Relations between Starbucks and Workers United have grown increasingly tense. Last month, Starbucks sued Workers United, saying a pro-Palestinian post on a union account damaged its reputation and demanding that the union stop using the name Starbucks Workers United. Workers United responded with its own lawsuit, saying Starbucks defamed the union by suggesting it supports terrorism and violence.

But on Thursday, most strikers were focused on work issues and pay. Moonie Atchley, who works as a mixologist at a Starbucks store in the company's hometown of Seattle, was picketing outside a non-union store near Pike Place Market, where the first Starbucks opened in 1971.

Atchley said she often struggles to pay her rent and buy food on her Starbucks paycheck, even though she lives outside the city.

"The union is fighting for a better Starbucks. We want the best for this company,” she said.

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AP Video Journalists Manuel Valdes in Seattle, Melissa Perez Winder in Chicago and Robert Bumsted in New York contributed. Durbin reported from Detroit.

Dee-ann Durbin, The Associated Press

Starbucks workers hold largest strike in company history on Red Cup Day

JOSEPH LAMOUR
November 16, 2023 

Starbucks workers hold largest strike in company history on Red Cup Day

Starbucks workers have organized the largest strike in the company’s history on a typically high-traffic day for its locations.

On Nov. 16, unionized workers at multiple Starbucks locations nationwide walked out in protest on Red Cup Day, a promotion where customers can purchase reusable red holiday cups that give them discounts on future uses and other benefits.

Starbucks Workers United said the walkout involved thousands of workers at more than 200 stores, but Starbucks said workers were taking part in the protest at fewer than 100 stores.

The union, which organized what it coined the “Red Cup Rebellion,” says workers are protesting understaffing at the company’s locations, which includes promotional days like Red Cup Day, Double Star Days, ThursYays and more. Workers are demanding that Starbucks also turn off mobile ordering on these days when foot traffic is up.


Starbucks Workers United union members and supporters on a picket line outside a Starbucks (Victor J. Blue / Getty Images)

Mobile ordering, which was first introduced to stores in 2015, has become an integral part of Starbucks employees’ workday as the capability has grown over time. Mobile order and delivery totalled a third of Starbucks’ sales in its latest quarter, according to CNBC, and some baristas say mobile orders have inundated and overwhelmed staff, particularly on days when the company offers deals and freebies.

For its part, Starbucks says its retail leaders have the flexibility to adjust staffing schedules — which are created three weeks in advance — as needed, and stores are often provided additional labor hours to increase staffing for planned promotional days like Red Cup Day.

Steph Kronos, a pro-Union activist, joins Starbucks workers, former employees, and supporters in holding signs in support of a strike, outside of a Starbucks store (Saul Loeb / Getty Images)

At least 360 of Starbucks’ roughly 9,000 company-owned locations in 41 states have voted to unionize, according to National Labor Relations Board data, since the end of 2021, when the union first won an election.

Meanwhile, Starbucks workers just filed 32 more complaints with New York City, bringing the total to nearly 90 complaints since February. Workers allege that Starbucks violated New York’s Fair Workweek Law, which says businesses must give employees regular schedules that stay the same week-to-week, set work schedules 14 days in advance and extra pay for shift changes and more.

“We make every effort and have invested significant resources to ensure partner scheduling practices are in alignment with New York City’s Fair Workweek Law,” Starbucks said in a statement to CNBC.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com

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