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Unionised Starbucks workers walked out of stores in Chicago, Los Angeles and the company’s hometown of Seattle on Friday and threatened to escalate strikes to put pressure on the company to reach a labour contract.
Three years after baristas first formed a union, Workers United and Starbucks remain far apart on the terms of an initial contract. Workers United now represents more than 11,000 of the roughly 200,000 workers at company-operated US stores.
The walkout, expected to last five days, is the second to take place at a large employer this week after the Teamsters union picketed seven Amazon warehouses around the country, showing how labour is trying to apply pressure on management during the high-volume holiday period.
After years of tension and litigation, Workers United and Starbucks agreed in February to return to the bargaining table in hopes of agreeing on a contract framework by the end of this year.
Starbucks said the parties had reached more than 30 agreements on hundreds of topics, including many economic issues. But they appeared to disagree on pay.
Workers United said Starbucks this month proposed no new wage increases for union baristas now and a guarantee of only 1.5 per cent in future years. The proposal pertained to a guaranteed minimum pay increase for union members, Starbucks said.
The company is already planning wage increases in the range of 2-3 per cent in 2025 for most US baristas, a smaller rise than a year ago, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Starbucks said that Workers United had proposed an immediate increase of 64 per cent in hourly workers’ minimum wages, and a rise of 77 per cent over the course of a three-year year contract. “This is not sustainable,” the company said.
Tensions with the union have mounted as Starbucks grapples with falling sales. Brian Niccol, who joined as chief executive in September, has laid out a plan to turn the business around that includes improvements for baristas, saying he wants to ensure that Starbucks is “the best job in retail”.
This week Starbucks more than doubled the amount of paid leave offered for new parents at US stores. Workers United said it had proposed the idea last month.
The union and Starbucks were scheduled for three days of contract talks in Los Angeles starting on Tuesday. Union delegates left the negotiations on Wednesday, a person familiar with the negotiations said.
“Workers United delegates prematurely ended our bargaining session this week. It is disappointing they didn’t return to the table given the progress we’ve made to date,” Starbucks said.
The union accused Starbucks of “backtracking” on promises to reach the outlines of a contract by the end of the year. It threatened to widen the strike to hundreds of stores over the next five days.
“Nobody wants to strike. It’s a last resort, but Starbucks has broken its promise to thousands of baristas and left us with no choice,” Fatemeh Alhadjaboodi, a barista from Texas and a Workers United bargaining delegate, said in a statement released by the union.
