32NJ SEIU and SAG AFTRA joined Starbucks baristas in solidarity at a strike demanding fair pay and better working conditions.
(Photo by Gabriele Holtermann)
Coffee aficionados were greeted with protests picking up their favorite java on Thursday as thousands of Starbucks baristas from coast to coast went on strike, demanding contract negotiations, more staffing, and better schedules.
The walkout, coined “Red Cup Rebellion,” came on Red Cup Day, when Starbucks hands out tens of thousands of free reusable cups, one of the company’s busiest days of the year.
Baristas say chronic understaffing, particularly on promotion days like Red Cup Day, leads to piled-up and abandoned orders and frustrated customers, who often take their anger out on workers.
In New York City, about thirty Starbucks workers and allies protested outside the Starbucks store in Astor Place -the store unionized in 2022 -in the morning before heading to a larger scale protest at the nonunion Starbucks location on 90 Park Avenue for a midday protest.
Over the past two years, 9000 Starbucks workers successfully unionized at 360 stores nationwide. Starbucks, however, has stalled bargaining efforts over fairer hours and more staffing at stores nationwide while offering workers at nonunion stores benefits like credit card tipping, which isn’t available at unionized Starbucks stores.
Starbucks Workers United, which filed an unfair labor practice claim with the National Labor Relations Board, also calls on Starbucks to shut down mobile orders on promotional days.
Mary Baca is a barista at the Astor Place location. Baca said their demands are consistent scheduling, better pay, a safer work environment, and credit card tipping at union stores.
“Other stores that aren’t unions have credit card tipping,” Barca said. “Union stores don’t. That’s a union-busting tactic. It takes probably a good $100 – $200 out of our paycheck a week.”
Edwin Palmasolis, who has worked…
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