Thousands of unionised Starbucks employees walked off the job on Thursday for “Red Cup Day,” an annual promotion in which the coffee chain hands out reusable cups to customers who order holiday drinks, according to the union behind the protest.
Starbucks Workers United said the “Red Cup Rebellion” was the largest walkout in the company’s history and was an attempt to draw attention to ongoing complaints about staffing, scheduling and other workplace issues.
Juniper Schweitzer, who has worked for Starbucks for 16 years, said she loves the company and its ideals, but believes it doesn’t live up to them.
“They promised us the world and they haven’t delivered,” said Schweitzer, who picketed outside her Chicago store on Thursday.
The labour group has organised about 360 Starbucks stores, a small percentage of the company’s more than 9,000 US locations. Starbucks played down the impact of the labour action.
“We have nearly 10,000 stores open right now, delighting our customers with the joy of Red Cup Day. There are also a few dozen stores with some partners who are on strike, and more than half of those stores are open and serving customers this morning,” a Starbucks spokesperson said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
The protest comes amid signs that the push by workers to unionise Starbucks has slowed, after three cafes in upstate New York became the company’s first stores to organise in 2021. Since then, Starbucks Workers United has accused the company of using stalling tactics to avoid agreeing to a labour contract, while executives at the restaurant chain have blamed the union for the impasse.
Edwin Palmasolis, a Starbucks employee for more than two years, joined the picket line outside his New York store on Thursday. His store voted to unionise last year, but so far Starbucks and the union haven’t started negotiations. He believes a contract would help improve working conditions at his busy Manhattan store.
“It’s been more of a downgrade than an upswing for us. It’s been exhausting trying to deal with their retaliation and not much has changed in the last year,” he said.
In New York, non-union Starbucks workers are filing new charges against the company for allegedly violating worker protection laws, according to the union. The new complaints, which cover more than 50 stores, accuse Starbucks of violating the city’s Fair Workweek law. The law, enacted in 2017, requires employers to give fast-food workers their schedules at least two weeks in advance or pay a bonus for the shifts.
Starbucks denied breaking the law. “We make every effort and have invested significant resources to ensure that our partners’ scheduling practices are in compliance with New York City’s Fair Workweek and Just Cause laws,” the Starbucks spokesperson said in an email.
Thursday’s protests included workers at six unionised stores in the Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania, with customers seeing temporarily closed signs at stores including in Bloomfield.
Starbucks is refusing to negotiate over issues related to promotional days, leading to an influx of unhappy customers who have to wait longer for their caffeinated beverages because the company won’t hire additional staff, the workers said. As part of the walkout, the union said workers want Starbucks to turn off mobile ordering on future promotion days.
“In my store, we’re the fourth busiest store on the entire east coast, and we’ve seen over 500 drinks an hour with six people on the floor. That’s just not realistic,” Casper Borowitz, who works at a Starbucks on the University of Pittsburgh campus, told CBS News Pittsburgh.
“We’ve been asking for mobile ordering to be turned off on these high-volume days and promotional days because we just can’t keep up with the business,” Borowitz said.
In Maryland, Ellicott City barista Sam Petty echoed these concerns, telling CBS News Baltimore: “Imagine three people making orders for 30, 40 customers every half hour.”
