Starbucks workers say they will begin a strike in three cities on Friday: NPR

Starbucks employees and supporters react as votes are read during a 2021 union election watch party in Buffalo, NY. Starbucks employees voted to unionize despite the company’s objections, pointing the way to a new work model for the 50-year-old coffee giant.

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Joshua Bessex/AP

Starbucks employees and supporters react as votes are read during a 2021 union election watch party in Buffalo, NY. Starbucks employees voted to unionize despite the company’s objections, pointing the way to a new work model for the 50-year-old coffee giant.

Joshua Bessex/AP

The Starbucks Workers United union says baristas in three metro areas are on strike for five days because the organization and Starbucks were unable to agree on a new contract before the end of the year.

SWU says the strikes will begin Friday and last until Christmas Eve, a stretch it calls “It was the strike before Christmas.”

The union said some workers in Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago would join the strike line because Starbucks recently offered a contract that included no raises in the immediate future and 1.5% raises in future years.

The union said Tuesday that 98% of Starbucks Workers United members voted to authorize a strike on Tuesday.

Starbucks Workers United workers first unionized in 2021 and now represent more than 10,000 employees. They are ask for it a $20 minimum wage, 5% annual raises, a fair scheduling process, better health care, and improved paid leave protocols.

In a statement emailed to NPR on Friday, Starbucks said it has held more than nine collective bargaining negotiations with the union since April and reached over 30 “meaningful agreements on hundreds of issues.” However, Workers United’s proposals call for an immediate 64% increase in the minimum wage for hourly partners, which it sees as “unsustainable.”

In February, Starbucks and the union released statements saying they had made progress in negotiations, and Starbucks said it would work in 2024 to resolve the legal dispute between the company and the union and create a fairer process for organizing of employees to develop.

“Since February, Starbucks has repeatedly publicly reiterated that they intend to close contracts by the end of the year – but they have not yet presented a serious economic proposal to workers,” the union said.

Starbucks Workers United said the strikes would continue to “escalate…unless Starbucks meets our commitment to work toward a fundamental framework.”

Starbucks said Friday that union delegates “ended our bargaining session early this week” and called on them to return to the bargaining table.

“We stand ready to continue negotiations to reach agreements,” a Starbucks spokesman said.

NPR’s Rachel Treisman contributed reporting.