Starbucks union says 30 more US stores are joining week-old strike

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press Business Writer

Starbucks’ union is expanding its week-old strike against the company.

Starbucks Workers United said baristas from 30 more stores in 25 U.S. cities planned to join the strike Thursday, including stores in Cleveland; Memphis, Tennessee; Springfield, Missouri, and Albany, New York. That brings the total number of stores with striking workers to 95 in 65 cities, the union said.

The strike began last Thursday on Starbucks’ Red Cup Day, which is typically one of its busiest days of the year. Since 2018, Starbucks has given out free, reusable cups on that day to customers who buy a holiday drink.

Starbucks said the strike has caused minimal disruption to its operations, and noted that this year’s Red Cup Day was the strongest in the company’s history in terms of sales and store traffic. Placer.ai, a location data company, said Starbucks’ foot traffic jumped 44.5% last Thursday compared to this year’s daily average.

Starbucks said only 49 of the 65 stores that the union vowed to strike last week experienced any disruption, and 29 of those have reopened.

Around 550 of Starbucks’ 10,000 company-owned U.S. stores are unionized. Starbucks also has 7,000 licensed locations in places like airports.

“As we’ve said, 99% of our 17,000 U.S. locations remain open and welcoming customers, including many the union publicly stated would strike but never closed or have since reopened,” Starbucks spokeswoman Jaci Anderson said.

Striking workers are protesting a lack of progress in labor negotiations with the company. They say they are seeking better pay, improved staffing in stores and a resolution of hundreds of unfair labor practice charges filed against the company.

There is no date set for the strike to end, and more stores are prepared to join if Starbucks doesn’t reach a contract agreement with the union, organizers said.

Starbucks said it is prepared to talk when the union is ready to return to the bargaining table. Negotiations between the two sides ended in April.