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Unionized Starbucks employees walked off the job Thursday to press their demands for contract negotiations and highlight their grievances over staffing and scheduling issues.
Starbucks Workers United, the union representing the striking workers, said the walkout involved thousands of workers at more than 200 stores. Starbucks said workers were protesting at fewer than 100 stores, the majority of which remained open. The company has approximately 9,300 corporately owned stores in the United States.
The pause coincides with the annual Starbucks promotion, Red Cup Day, in which customers receive bright red reusable cups when they order a holiday-themed drink like the Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte.
Starbucks Workers United has said that events like Red Cup Day force employees to handle more orders than usual but without adequate staffing.
Unionized workers say the company has refused to bargain over staffing and scheduling issues that are especially acute on such days, and the union filed an unfair labor practice claim with the National Labor Relations Board over the issue this year. Has been filed.
The union represents more than 9,000 Starbucks employees at more than 300 stores nationwide. Employees at some unionized stores began a walkout Wednesday in an effort to surprise the company, which was aware of Thursday’s action.
Starbucks says the union is the party that has stifled bargaining sessions by insisting on holding meetings online, with rank-and-file members observing, rather than having negotiating teams sit in person.
“We hope Workers United’s priorities will change to include contract negotiations for the shared success of our partners and the people they represent,” company spokesman Andrew Trull said in a statement.
The union is calling on the company to end mobile ordering on promotional days, which it says has become more frequent.
Daisy Federspiel-Bayer, a shift supervisor at a Starbucks in Seattle, said her store received more than 200 orders in half an hour during an October promotion in which customers could get 50 percent off any drink. The store was so packed that some drinks and food were wasted and orders were put on hold, Ms. Federspiel-Bayer said.
“I witnessed baristas having a mental breakdown, being verbally berated by customers and feeling pressured by owners to continue performing even though it was inappropriate to do so,” he said.
In a statement, Starbucks acknowledged that promotions “may alter store patterns and traffic,” but also said: “Our stores are often provided additional labor hours to increase staffing in support of planned promotional days.”
Rachel Simmonds, a shift supervisor at a unionized Starbucks in Chicago, where workers walked out Wednesday and Thursday, said the problems were more chronic, leading to employee burnout and increased wait times for customers and lower service quality. The business was suffering losses.
“Simply, we need more coverage on the floor,” Ms. Simandl said. “Instead of just having three people, having four or five people. “It makes a huge difference to the flow of the day.”
The walkout is the latest development in the fight between the company and organized workers. After two initial election victories in the Buffalo area in December 2021, the union campaign quickly expanded. About 70 shops applied for union elections in March 2022, but the momentum died out. Last month, about 20 shops had applied for union elections.
Of the shops whose election results have been certified by the National Labor Relations Board, 363 voted in favor of forming a union, while 71 voted against forming a union.
In September, a Labor Board judge ruled that Starbucks violated federal law by limiting wage increases and benefit improvements for non-union workers. Another administrative judge ruled in March that Starbucks had repeatedly violated federal labor laws by illegally interfering with union organizing and firing workers who sought to form a union.
In June, unionized workers announced a week-long strike at more than 150 stores, protesting the company’s ban on Pride Month apparel and its treatment of LGBTQ workers – a claim that management denied. Starbucks said 21 stores were temporarily closed due to the protests.
Starbucks Workers United said Thursday’s Red Cup Day protests have spread to about a dozen non-union stores.
A Flatwoods, W.Va. , where Justin Copenhaver, a shift supervisor, filed a petition with his coworkers this year to form a union. The effort was voted down in March, but the union has accused the company of election tampering.
On Thursday, Mr. Copenhaver, along with three other employees, staged a sit-in outside the store.
“I want to show the company that we are the ones bringing the money in and we can stop the money from coming in,” he said.
noam scheiber Contributed to the reporting.
