Unionized Starbucks Stores Go on a Weekend Strike

Table of Content

• Hey, Starbucks, how much should I tip for 10 seconds of service?
• How do I check my Starbucks Card balance?
• Coffee at Home
• Both Amazon and Starbucks have cultivated reputations as progressive employers and pushed back against unions
• Bloomberg Opinion
• Starbucks for Life
• Customer Service
• off for a limited time***

The action is over selective closures of union stores, as well as retaliatory behavior against unionized employees. More than 1,000 baristas at 100 stores are planned to walk out, according to Starbucks Workers United, the labor group organizing the effort. The strike will be the longest in the year-old unionization campaign.

Starbucks said in November that its revenue rose 3% to a record $8.41 billion in the July-September period. Starbucks and the union have begun contract talks in about 50 stores but no agreements have been reached. It's odd, bordering on humorous, how Starbucks -- and many other fine fast-food chains -- are doing everything they can to minimize human interaction. Why, Starbucks was a pioneer in mobile ordering, which leads to a splendidly impersonal result. These tensions have been present throughout the campaign’s year of existence, but have now crystallized in the face of months of intense “bullying” by Starbucks, to use SBWU’s term. Meanwhile, Starbucks made nearly $900 million in profits in the quarter ending in October, while its baristas average a little over $15 per hour.

Hey, Starbucks, how much should I tip for 10 seconds of service?

Although I typically prefer caramel over vanilla flavor-wise, the slightly less rich vanilla latte has always been my favorite. You won't be disappointed if you make vanilla lattes your new go-to. Iced caramel macchiatos are my typical order in the summer. But when chilly weather hits, it's easy to transition it to a hot drink.

In an October termination notice, the company said it fired him due to “refusal to abide by the dress-code policy,” as well as attendance issues. This is the second major strike in a month by Starbucks' U.S. workers. On Nov. 17, workers at 110 Starbucks stores held a one-day walkout. That effort coincided with Starbucks' annual Red Cup Day, when the company gives reusable cups to customers who order a holiday drink. Organizers lauded what they described as the longest national action in the worker network’s brief history. The strike in November had been the first on a coordinated national level, though individual stores have held scores of strikes over the past few months, including two victorious ones that lasted over 40 days.

How do I check my Starbucks Card balance?

In response, the company has cracked down hard on a national level, apparently to stem further organizing, and brought back its longtime CEO Howard Schultz, who once compared the Starbucks corporate culture to that of Holocaust victims sharing a blanket. More recently, workers rallied with labor allies in ten cities, including Buffalo, Chicago, and New York, to mark the one-year anniversary of the network’s first union win at the Elmwood store in Buffalo last December. “We’re hoping to show Starbucks that we are not backing down, that we’re getting stronger, that we’re committing to more actions,” says Julie Marie Langevin, a Redding, Massachusetts–based barista and member of SBWU at a non-union store. “Since we won our union election, the store has remained really understaffed during the week,” says Julia Berkman, a barista based in Waban, Massachusetts, whose store will be on strike all weekend. Up to 100 stores represented by Starbucks Workers United are set to go on strike this weekend, including over 20 that are going on strike for the first time. Of all the tea drinks offered at the chain, the Honey Citrus Mint was by far the most ordered while I was working.

"Starbucks, unfortunately, happens to be the proxy of what is happening. We're right in the middle of it. If a company is as progressive as Starbucks, that's done so much and at the 100th percentile, can be threatened by a third party, then anyone can." The unionization movement at Starbucks locations has shaken Schultz, who stepped in as interim CEO earlier this year. He has publicly statedhe would not embrace union efforts at a company where he is known as the architect of creating progressive employee benefits. Workers United noted that Starbucks recently closed the first store to unionize in Seattle, the company's hometown. Starbucks has said the store was closed for safety reasons.

Coffee at Home

It seems, you see, that the very second you get your credit card out,you're now asked if you want to tip. This has reached such a stage where one alleged Starbucks barista turned to TikTok to admit she felt so embarrassed by the new system that she clicked on "no tip" before handing the screen to the customer. I do know that it's proliferated to such a degree that I'm sometimes astonished that a particular store thinks I might like to tip the people who work there. Previously known as Medicine Ball tea on the customer-created secret menu, it's made with Teavana Jade Citrus Mint tea, hot water, steamed lemonade, and honey.

Close to 7,000 employees work at those unionized stores. Starbucks workers around the U.S., including some in Southern California, launched a planned three-day strike as part of their effort to unionize the coffee chain's stores. According to the National Labor Relations Board, Workers United has filed at least 446 unfair labor practice charges against Starbucks since late last year, including that the company fired labor organizers and refused to bargain. The company, meanwhile, has filed 47 charges against the union, among them allegations that it defied bargaining rules when it recorded sessions and posted the recordings online. Reports suggest one reason for the change is that Starbucks is undergoing something of a unionization drive and credit card tipping is one of the things unions demand.

THE RECENT WAR OVER UNIONIZING STARBUCKS began in earnest in Buffalo in late 2021. A fierce battle to organize the city’s Starbucks locations whittled 18 stores filing for election down to six, through extraordinary pressure by the company. Union strategy further reduced this to three initially. The latest action this weekend steps things up further, as SBWU says it is not willing to tolerate further retaliation and what it sees as failure on the company’s part to truly negotiate.

"As of now, Starbucks is constantly under-scheduling at stores that are union, non-union. At least we have the power to strike." A Starbucks store in Highland Park was among those closed Friday morning due to the strike. Workers picketed in front of the store, chanting "No contract, no coffee." But it's easy to conclude that many employers view this technology as a way of keeping employee wages down and hoping that customers will make up the difference by tipping. Starbucks Corp.’s termination of a prominent union activist who had been repeatedly sent home for refusing to remove a mental-health awareness pin has been deemed illegal retaliation by US labor board prosecutors.

More than 264 of Starbucks' 9,000 company-run U.S. stores have voted to unionize since late last year. You’ll still find your favorite Starbucks products wherever you get your groceries; these purchases just won’t be eligible to earn Stars. Visit a participating Starbucks Café to earn Stars when you buy your favorite drinks, food and more. I just like a hint of sweetness, so I usually order a plain soy latte since the soy milk Starbucks uses is already vanilla-flavored.

Workers at a Boston Starbucks stayed out for 64 days until the company replaced the store’s manager. In November, upwards of 110 stores went on strike on what baristas said is one of the company’s busiest days, Red Cup Day, when the company hands out reusable red cups to customers. The lack of negotiations has frustrated Starbucks workers. The election win at Buffalo’s Elmwood location triggered an exponential increase in union filings at Starbucks around the country over the winter that continued into the spring. All told, 269 company-run stores have won union elections—a far cry from the approximately 9,000 stores in the U.S., but many, many more than the zero that prevailed as of November 2021.

Starbucks for Life

Like the chai latte, it has a spicy flavor profile with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, making it the perfect drink for the fall and winter. The caramel macchiato and vanilla latte are great classic options in the colder months. I was a Starbucks baristafor nearly a year, so I've tasted a lot of the hot drinks on the menu. "We want consistent scheduling," said Veronica Gonzalez, a Starbucks supervisor who picketed in Highland Park on Friday.

Once upon a time, I used to go to Starbucks most days. I'd tip in cash because I knew the baristas there, and we always used to chat. And, if one paid with a credit card and had no cash, there was no way to tip. The National Labor Relations Board has filed 45 separate complaints against the company and is currently seeking a national cease-and-desist order against what it sees as union-busting by Starbucks. SBWU has filed a whopping 548 unfair labor practice complaints this calendar year.

Customer Service

“A lot of our really solid long-term trained baristas are feeling really overextended, having to do the job of two baristas,” she says. If you have a sore throat, Honey Citrus Mint tea is for you. Starbucks tests out different seasonal drinks each year, but there's a reason the Pumpkin Spice Latte consistently returns. If you're looking for an extra jolt of caffeine, ask for a dirty chai . But the warm take on the popular drink really accentuates the notes of cinnamon and cardamom, making for an ideal cozy flavor. It may be even better because the caramel sauce seems to combine better with steamed milk.