Starbucks Strikes will Expand, Reaching over 300 Stores nationwide

The Washington Post / Lauren Kaori Gurley

15:21 JST, December 24, 2024

A strike by workers at Starbucks will widen to reach more than 300 locations nationwide Tuesday escalating a five-day work stoppage over barista pay that has shuttered stores at the largest coffee chain in the United States amid the holiday rush.

The walkouts will spread on Christmas Eve to locations in Atlanta, Buffalo and other cities that have yet to be announced, Starbucks Workers United, the union representing baristas, said Monday.

The strike began Friday after negotiations with Starbucks over pay increases reached an impasse. By Monday, walkouts had reached stores in Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Boston, Dallas, New York City, Denver and Pittsburgh, among other cities, the union said, temporarily shuttering more than 60 locations.

If the strike expands as planned Tuesday, it will still only affect a small percentage of the more than 10,000 locations owned by Starbucks but will be the largest against the coffee giant to date, the union said. Baristas are expected to return to their jobs on Christmas or the following day.

Jay Go-Guasch, a Starbucks spokesperson, said that the coffee chain offers average pay of more than $18 an hour, plus “best-in-class benefits,” including health care, free college tuition and paid family leave for employees who work at least 20 hours a week.

“No other retailer offers this kind of comprehensive pay and benefits package,” Go-Guasch said in a statement last week.

Starbucks United said baristas decided to strike after the company offered them no immediate raises and a guarantee of 1.5 percent increases in subsequent years, which amounts less than 50 cents an hour for its hourly workers.

More than 11,000 Starbucks baristas at 535 stores in 45 states have unionized since late 2021, about 1 in 20 of the company’s U.S. locations.

Starbucks initially fiercely opposed the wave of unionizations at its stores but in early 2024 agreed to work with the union toward a first contract and resolve pending litigation between the parties.

The union said last week that Starbucks had reneged on its pledge by not presenting “workers with a serious economic proposal.”

Go-Guasch said that the union “prematurely ended our bargaining session” last week, adding that it was “disappointing they didn’t return to the table given the progress we’ve made to date.”