Some Starbucks baristas go on strike in Chicago; Strikes planned in two other cities

Some Starbucks baristas went on strike in Chicago on Friday. Their union warned that strikes could spread to hundreds of cafes by Christmas Eve if the coffee giant does not meet workers’ demands at the bargaining table. Baristas also planned walkouts Friday in Los Angeles and in Seattle, where Starbucks is headquartered.

In Chicago, baristas at the company’s store at 5964 N. Ridge Avenue in Edgewater, one of the first in the city to unionize more than two years ago, went on strike Friday morning.

“The company has repeatedly publicly assured that it intends to close contracts by the end of the year, but it has not yet presented a serious economic proposal to workers,” Starbucks Workers United said in a news release Thursday evening.

This week’s strikes come three years after baristas won their first election at a cafe in Buffalo, New York, and more than two years since Starbucks’ union push came to Chicago, where baristas first voted for one in May 2022 Starbucks Workers United said it now represents more than 11,000 workers in more than 535 cafes across the country in 45 states and Washington, DC

The union accused the company of backing out of a February agreement aimed at agreeing on a “basic framework” to finalize an initial contract and resolve legal issues between the union and the company. Before the February agreement, union baristas had long accused the company — which faced a litany of allegations of labor law violations by organizers and federal labor officials throughout the union campaign — of obstructing negotiations.

In a statement, Starbucks spokesman Jay Go-Guasch blamed unions for ending collective bargaining negotiations “prematurely” earlier this week.

“We are ready to continue negotiations to reach agreements,” said Go-Guasch. “We need the union to come back to the table.”

However, the union said the company offered baristas an economic package that included no immediate new wage increases for union baristas and a guarantee of just 1.5% for future years.

“Given the progress we have made so far, it is disappointing that they have not returned to the negotiating table,” Go-Guasch said, saying the two sides have met in more than nine negotiating sessions since April. “We have reached over 30 significant agreements on hundreds of issues that Workers United delegates told us were important to them, including many economic issues.”

Starbucks said the 1.5% increase guarantee is only a floor on future increases and not a ceiling. The company said its baristas earn an average wage of more than $18 an hour.

Starbucks baristas have struck intermittently in Chicago and elsewhere since the union drive began. Over the past two years, workers have gone on strike at some union branches as part of the company’s annual Red Cup Day holiday campaign.

This year’s strikes come a day after the International Brotherhood of Teamsters launched a series of holiday strikes against Amazon delivery drivers across the country, including in northwest suburban Skokie.