Union members representing more than 10,000 baristas at Starbucks in the United States have begun a five-day strike at stores in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle, citing unresolved pay issues. performance and measurement.
The strike, which began on Friday, is the latest in a series of U.S. job cuts across all industries after a period in which workers in the auto, airline and railroad industries received more pay from their employers.
The Starbucks Workers United Union, which represents workers at 525 stores in the United States, said late Thursday that the walkout would increase daily and could reach “hundreds of stores” across the country by Christmas.
“It appears that 10 of the company's 10,000 stores are not open today,” Starbucks said, adding that there were no major disruptions to store operations on Friday.
About 20 people joined the picket line at a Starbucks on Chicago's north side, battered by snow and wind, but cheering in response to the honks of passing cars.
A few distraught customers tried to enter the closed store before the call, but board member Shep Serl said the reaction was positive.
Searl said 100 percent of the workers at Chicago's Edgewater Starbucks are participating in the strike and, according to the workers, have been subjected to unfair labor practices including handouts, “audience” meetings and firings. . (A union meeting is an official meeting organized by the company where employees are interested in unionization and where it brings labor consultants to discuss the pros and cons of unionization.)
The union members said they made about $21 an hour and added that this “would have been a good wage in 2013”.
It's not enough pay, the baristas said, because of inflation and the high cost of living in the big city, especially since they often don't have 40-hour work weeks.
They said: “We want to increase if we have to.”
Deadlock
Negotiations between the company and Workers United began in April, based on an agreement reached in February, which could also help resolve many of the pending disputes.
The company said on Thursday it had held more than nine negotiations with the union since April, and reached more than 30 agreements on “hundreds of topics”, including financial matters.
The company, which is headquartered in Seattle, said it was ready to continue negotiations, saying that union representatives had met a deadline for negotiations this week.
The union, however, said in a Facebook post Friday that Starbucks had yet to make a major financial statement with two weeks to go until the end of the year.
The union also rejected an immediate wage increase and a guarantee of a 1.5 percent increase in future years.
“Workers United's proposal calls for an increase in the minimum hourly wage by 64 percent, and 77 percent over the life of the three-year contract. This is not sustainable,” Starbucks said Friday.
Hundreds of complaints were filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), accusing Starbucks of illegal practices such as firing union supporters and closing stores during labor campaigns. Starbucks has denied wrongdoing and has said it respects the right of workers to choose whether to unionize.
Last month, the NLRB ruled that Starbucks violated the law by telling Seattle cafe workers they would lose benefits if they joined the union.
“It's (the strike) happening at one of the busiest times of the year for Starbucks, which can increase the impact and make people scrutinize the company's performance,” said Rachel Wolff, an analyst and market researcher at Emarketer.
The coffee shop is undergoing a transformation under its newly appointed boss Brian Niccol, who wants to restore the “coffee house culture” by renovating the cafes and changing the menu, among other things.
“Given how Starbucks is already struggling to win over customers, it can't afford any negative publicity — or impact on sales — that a strike would bring,” Wolff said.
The union has called for help on picket lines in three cities starting around 18:00 GMT, according to a post on X.
The strike by Starbucks workers comes in the same week Amazon employees in seven places in the US stopped working, Thursday, during the holiday shopping season.
There were 33 layoffs in 2023, the most since 2000, although they were lower than in previous decades, data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics show.