Starbucks Workers Union Launch “Strike Before Christmas”

Bitter negotiations between Starbucks and Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) have reached a breaking point. On Thursday night, SBWU announced that in response to the company’s failure to bargain in earnest, they will launch five days of escalating walkouts starting Friday, December 20. These strikes could potentially include hundreds of stores nationwide—just in time for Christmas.

SBWU says the walkouts, which they’ve dubbed The Strike Before Christmas, are in response to the company’s refusal to honor their public commitment in February to finalize a framework contract with their unionized workers before the end of the year.

Three contentious years since the first Starbucks store voted to organize, SBWU was hoping the company would come to the table this week with a final proposal the two sides could agree on. Instead, in their final bargaining meeting, Starbucks offered no new wage increases, only a 1.5% increase in future years, and no resolution to the hundreds of Unfair Labor Practice charges lodged against the company by its workers.

This is in sharp contrast to the contract Starbucks recently offered their new CEO. “In September, Brian Niccol became CEO with a compensation package worth at least $113 million. It’s worth a shocking 10,000 times the median hourly wage for a barista,” said Michelle Eisen, a 14-year Buffalo Starbucks barista and bargaining delegate.

On December 17, 98 percent of union partners voted to authorize the strike if necessary.

“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,” said Fatemeh Alhadjaboodi, a bargaining delegate and Starbucks barista from Texas who has been with the company for five years. 

As I reported last month, Starbucks’ newfound civility with the union was hard to believe given the company’s history and its close relationship with notoriously vicious union-busting law firm Littler Mendelson. Nevertheless, SBWU representatives swore the talks were collaborative.

Starbucks spokesperson Phil Gee agreed at the time, stating, “Workers United and Starbucks continue to make considerable progress on the framework intended to be the basis of each single-store contract. We look forward to making additional progress in future sessions, remaining steadfast in our goal to reach ratified contracts for partners in represented stores by the end of this year.”

But even as they publicly made statements like these, their representatives at Littler Mendelson were filing statements in court on their behalf attacking the National Labor Relations Board as an illegitimate government body, even claiming, “the National Labor Relations Act is unconstitutional.”

According to Starbucks Workers United bargaining delegate Michelle Eisen, the company shifted its bargaining strategy this fall, pumping the brakes on any progress toward a deal with the union.

“In October, November, and December, Starbucks failed to bring viable economic proposals to the table that included real investment in baristas,” she says. “This is backtracking on months and months of progress and promises from the company to work toward an end-of-year framework ratification.”

Ironically, Starbucks’ animosity toward its workers actually seems to have fueled SBWU’s recruiting efforts. The union has grown to represent 11,000 workers over 535 stores, adding more than 100 new stores this year alone. This week they even added the Reserve location inside of Starbucks Headquarters in SoDo.

The walkouts will begin later this morning, in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Unless the company comes back to the table with a “serious economic proposal,” the strike will grow to include hundreds of stores nationwide right before Christmas—one of Starbucks’ busiest times of the year.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Starbucks 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.”

Those seeking to support these workers in their fight for a fair contract can join them on the picket line at the Pike Street Starbucks Reserve Roastery at 1124 Pike Street on Friday, December 20 at 3 PM PT.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include comment from Starbucks.