On July 28, 2023, Starbucks workers take a union bus after they stand on the picket line in solidarity with striking SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America members outside Netflix Studios in Los Angeles. Get into the.
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starbucks Workers United announced Tuesday that 98% of union baristas seeking a contract with the coffee giant voted to authorize a strike.
Negotiators are scheduled to return to talks with Starbucks in their last scheduled meeting of the year on Tuesday, with the goal of agreeing on a “basic framework.” Starbucks and Workers United spent hundreds of hours at the negotiating table this year, and both sides offered dozens of tentative agreements, the union said in a press release.
But hundreds of unfair labor practice lawsuits remain unresolved, and the union said Starbucks has not yet proposed a comprehensive package that would address barista pay and other benefits.
In a statement to CNBC, Starbucks said it disputes the union’s characterization and remains committed to reaching a final framework agreement.
“It is unfortunate that the union is considering a strike instead of focusing on very productive negotiations. Since April, we have scheduled and attended more than eight multi-day bargaining sessions, in which several “Workers United representatives said we reached meaningful agreements on 30 issues that are important to them, including a number of economic issues,” the company said in a statement.
The latest strike authorization signals that relations between the two sides may be cooling down again after a thaw in late February when both sides announced they had found a “constructive path forward” through mediation. . Prior to that point, Starbucks had been battling a labor union boom that spread throughout its stores for more than two years. The company’s attempts to suppress the union movement prompted a backlash from some consumers and lawmakers, culminating in former CEO Howard Schultz testifying on Capitol Hill. did.
Starbucks CEO Brian Nicol, who joined the company in September, promised to negotiate in good faith in a letter to unions during his first few weeks on the job.
Nicol announced Monday that the company will double its paid parental leave starting in March. However, due to sluggish sales at its U.S. base, baristas will reportedly receive a smaller annual salary increase next year than in previous years.
Since the first election in Buffalo three years ago, more than 500 corporate-owned Starbucks cafes have voted to unionize under Workers United.
