Starbucks staff begin three-day strike as contract talks sour

Bloomberg

Starbucks Corp baristas at 50 locations throughout the US are starting a three-day strike, saying the company isn’t bargaining fairly with recently unionised stores.
Organisers say the planned strike will involve more than 1,000 workers, making it the biggest multiday work stoppage ever by Starbucks Workers United, the labour group that’s prevailed in elections at about 270 of the chain’s cafés this year. Workers at 50 locations that aren’t stopping work for three days plan to support the effort by striking for a day or two, according to the union.
The walkout underlines the rising tension between the coffee giant and its union employees, who have tried to secure a collective-bargaining agreement for more than a year without success.
“We just want to show Starbucks that we’re going to continue escalating until they respect our right to organise and actually come to the table to bargain in good faith,” said Maggie Carter, a leader in the nationwide union campaign. “As long as Starbucks continues to fight us, we’re going to continue to fight back.”
Carter said union contract talks at her Knoxville, Tennessee, store began last week and ended within minutes when company representatives walked out over a dispute about the union’s desire for some workers to be able to participate via Zoom.
Organisers have been pushing Starbucks for better pay and protections against benefit cuts, among other things. That location isn’t part of the strike, but Carter is helping coordinate the work stoppage.
While the campaign has so far organised only a small fraction of Starbucks’ 9,000 corporate-run US locations, it has spread rapidly across the country this year. It helped inspire similar first-ever organiing victories at other companies, such as Apple Inc, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc and Trader Joe’s Co.
However, the pace of new Starbucks unionisation petitions has slowed in recent months, as workers allege the company has been retaliating in stores and stonewalling them at the bargaining table.