The strike at Starbucks expands to more than 300 stores in the United States on Tuesday, and about 5,000 workers are expected to join the five-day strike that will end later today, according to the employees’ union.
Workers at more than 60 stores walked out in 12 major cities Monday, and the Christmas Eve expansion is expected to be the largest ever by the Starbucks Workers Union, which represents workers at 525 stores across the country .
“Half the baristas in my store commute 30 minutes one way because they can’t afford to live closer to work,” Lauren Hollingsworth, a barista from Ashland, Oregon, said in a union press release. “These strikes are a first show of force,” she added.
The roughly 60 stores that were temporarily closed over the weekend and Monday represent “a very small number” of its more than 10,000 U.S. locations, Starbucks noted.
“We anticipate that tomorrow, on Christmas Eve, Workers United will seek to cause more stores to close,” according to Sara Kelly, executive vice president and chief partner officer of Starbucks, who noted that 97 to 99 % of its stores would not be affected. .
“We are prepared to continue negotiations when the union returns to the bargaining table,” Kelly said in a statement. statement released by the company on Monday. On Tuesday, the company referred to that statement when asked to comment on the expanded strike.
The five-day strike started Fridayputting it on the line during the holiday shopping season, and expanded to include more stores in other cities over the weekend as workers protested the lack of progress in contract negotiations with the Seattle-based company.
Where the strikes are happening at Starbucks
Baristas have protested on picket lines and closed Starbucks locations in 13 metropolitan areas in recent days, according to the union. This includes locations in:
- Boston
- Chicago
- Columbus, Ohio
- Denver
- Los Angeles
- New York City
- Philadelphia
- Pittsburgh
- Portland, Oregon
- Seattle
- St. Louis
- Tucson
Active picket lines scheduled for Tuesday include the following 10 locations, the union said:
- Atlanta 10830 Haynes Bridge Road, Alpharetta, GA 12 p.m. EST
- Buffalo, NY 933 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, NY 12 p.m. EST
- Chicago 5964 N Ridge Ave, Chicago, IL 12pm CST
- Columbus, Ohio 88 East Broad St, Columbus OH 43215 12 p.m. ET
- Dallas 2300 S Loop 288 Denton, Texas 12 p.m. CST
- Los Angeles 3241 N Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California 10am PST
- New York: Manhattan 444 Broadway, New York, NY, 12:00 p.m. EST
- Philadelphia 1528 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 9:00 AM EST
- Portland 720 SW Broadway, Portland, Oregon, 12:00 p.m. PST
- Seattle Pike Street Roastery, 1124 Pike St, Seattle, WA 1 p.m. PST
According to the union, the company has not honored its commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year.
Starbucks has proposed an economic package with no new pay raises for union baristas at this time and a 1.5% increase in coming years, the union announced Friday.
Starbucks said Workers United prematurely ended talks this week. Its pay and benefits are already worth $30 an hour for those who work at least 20 hours a week, the coffee chain said.
The union also wants Starbucks to resolve outstanding legal issues, including the hundreds of unfair labor practice charges that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board. The agency also opened or settled hundreds of charges against Amazon. Thursday, a day before the walkouts at Starbucks, the Teamsters union strikes announced in seven Amazon delivery centers.
