Employees at 65 Starbucks locations across the country started striking Thursday, the company’s Red Cup Day, after failing to reach a new collective bargaining agreement.
Starbucks coffee shops will be giving away reusable red cups to customers who come in and order one of the chain’s holiday season drinks on Thursday, making it one of the outlet’s busiest days of the year.
Starbucks Workers United deemed the strike a “Red Cup Rebellion,” arguing that the company has not offered new proposals in response to union demands in months.
“If Starbucks keeps stonewalling a fair contract and refusing to end union busting, they’ll see their business grind to a halt. No contract, no coffee is more than a tagline — it’s a pledge to interrupt Starbucks’ operations and profits until a fair union contract and an end to unfair labor practices are won,” said Starbucks Workers United spokeswoman Michelle Eisen.
The union wants better hours, more pay and the resolution of unfair labor practice allegations against Starbucks.
The coffee giant says it’s ready to negotiate when the union decides to return to the table.
“Starbucks offers the best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits for hourly partners. Workers United, which represents only 4% of our partners, chose to walk away from the bargaining table. We’ve asked them to return — many times. If they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk,” Starbucks spokeswoman Jaci Anderson told CNBC.
Ms. Anderson told ABC News that the union brought an incomplete proposal before its members in April, resulting in the impasse in negotiations.
The strike started at unionized stores across cities in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
The union said that if the strike continues, more stores out of the 550 represented by Starbucks Workers United will join the picket lines.
More than 1,000 workers were involved in the initial strike on Thursday. The union claims that it represents over 12,000 workers at the 550 union-affiliated Starbucks stores. The company claims Starbucks Workers United has only around 9,500 workers at those stores, according to CNBC.
