Starbucks workers walk out on Red Cup Day

Unionized Starbucks workers walked off the job Thursday to press their demands over contract negotiations and highlight their grievances over staffing and scheduling issues.

The union representing the striking workers, the Starbucks Workers Union, said the strike involved thousands of workers in more than 200 stores. Starbucks said workers were protesting at fewer than 100 stores, with most of those stores remaining open. The company has approximately 9,300 company-owned stores in the United States.

The hiatus coincides with Starbucks’ annual promotion, Red Cup Day, where customers receive bright red reusable cups if they order a holiday-themed drink, such as a Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte.

Starbucks Workers United said events like Red Cup Day force employees to handle more orders than usual but without enough staff.

Unionized workers say the company has refused to bargain on staffing and scheduling issues that are especially acute on days like these, and the union filed an unfair labor practices claim with the National Labor Relations Board over the issue this year.

The union represents more than 9,000 Starbucks workers in more than 300 stores across the country. Employees at some unionized stores went on strike Wednesday with the aim of surprising the company, which had been aware of Thursday’s move.

Starbucks says the union is the side that prevented bargaining sessions by insisting that meetings be conducted online, with rank-and-file members monitoring, rather than negotiating teams sitting in person.

“We hope that UAW’s priorities will shift to include the shared success of our partners and contract negotiation for those they represent,” company spokesman Andrew Trull said in a statement.

The union is calling on the company to stop mobile phone orders on promotional days, which it says have become more frequent.

Daisy Federspiel Baer, ​​a shift supervisor at a Starbucks in Seattle, said her store received more than 200 orders in half an hour during a promotion in October, where customers could get a 50 percent discount on any drink. Ms. Federspiel-Bayer said the store was so crowded that some drinks and food went missing and orders stopped.

“I have witnessed baristas on the verge of a mental breakdown, being verbally berated by customers and feeling pressure from superiors to continue performing when it would be unreasonable to do so,” she said.

In a statement, Starbucks acknowledged that promotions “may change store and traffic patterns,” but added: “Our stores are often provided with additional operating hours to increase staffing to support planned promotional days.”

Staffing problems have been more chronic, leaving workers exhausted and hurting the business by increasing wait times for customers and reducing the quality of service, said Rachel Simandle, a shift supervisor at a unionized Starbucks in Chicago, where employees went on strike Wednesday and Thursday.

“Immediately, what we need is to have more coverage on the ground,” Ms. Simandl said. “Instead of just three people, four or five people. It makes a huge difference in the way the day flows.”

The strike is the latest development in the battle between the company and organized labor. After two primary election wins in the Buffalo area in December 2021, the union campaign spread quickly. About 70 stores applied for union elections in March 2022, but the momentum dissipated. Nearly 20 stores filed for union elections last month.

Of the stores whose election results were certified by the National Labor Relations Board, 363 voted in favor of unionizing, while 71 voted against unionizing.

In September, a judge on the Labor Council to rule That Starbucks violated federal law by limiting raises and benefit improvements for non-union workers. Another administrative judge ruled in March that Starbucks repeatedly violated federal labor laws by illegally manipulating union organizing and firing employees who sought to unionize.

In June, unionized workers announced a week-long strike at more than 150 stores, protesting what they said was the company’s ban on Pride Month clothing and the treatment of LGBTQ workers — an assertion denied by management. Starbucks said the protest led to the temporary closure of 21 stores.

The Starbucks Workers Union said Thursday’s Red Cup Day protests spread to about a dozen non-union stores.

One was near Flatwoods, West Virginia, where Justin Copenhaver, a shift supervisor, petitioned to join his co-workers this year. The effort was voted down in March, but the union accused the company of tampering with the election.

On Thursday, Mr. Copenhaver picketed outside the store with three other employees.

“I want to show the company that we are the ones bringing in the money, and we can stop the money from coming in,” he said.

Noam Shibber Contributed to reports.