Starbucks union baristas walk out on holiday sales event

More than 1,000 Starbucks unionized baristas in over 40 U.S. cities launched an open-ended strike on Thursday, intensifying their push for a collective bargaining agreement over pay and other benefits at the coffee giant.

The baristas’ walkout will begin with 65 stores, the Starbucks Workers United said, coinciding with Red Cup Day, a busy holiday sales event that typically drives higher customer visits at its more than 17,000 coffeehouses in the U.S.

So far, Starbucks has seen minimal impact from the walkouts with less than 1% of its stores seeing any level of disruption, a company spokesperson told Reuters.

The union baristas plan to rally at 4 p.m. local time in more than a dozen cities and warned the strike could become the largest and longest in the history of Starbucks.

Stores in cities, including Seattle, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, Austin and Portland, will join the work stoppage, it said.

The strike comes as Starbucks under CEO Brian Niccol shuts hundreds of underperforming stores, including the unionized flagship Seattle location, this year while trimming corporate roles to control costs.

Niccol has stressed on improving service times and in-store experience in the U.S. to revive demand for beverages as sales remain flat or negative for the past seven quarters.

“We’re striking for a fair union contract, resolution of unfair labor practices and a better future at Starbucks,” said Dachi Spoltore, a Starbucks barista from Pittsburgh who joined the strike.

“For every one barista on strike, dozens more allies and customers have pledged to honor the picket line and not buy Starbucks while we’re on strike.”

The union has filed more than 1,000 charges against the company for alleged unfair labor practices to the National Labor Relations Board and had last week voted to authorize a strike if a contract was not finalized by November 13.

It had in April voted to reject a Starbucks proposal that guaranteed annual raises of at least 2%, which the union said did not offer changes to economic benefits such as healthcare, or an immediate pay hike.

Starbucks has said it offers more than $30 an hour in average pay and benefits for hourly partners.

In 2024, talks between the union, which represents employees at about 550 U.S. stores, and Starbucks broke down, after which workers went on strike during the key holiday period in December.

Both sides had then blamed each other for ending talks, but said they are ready to return to negotiations. The union represents roughly 9,500 workers, or 4% of its cafe workforce, Starbucks has said.