The Starbucks workers' strike expanded Saturday to include stores in Denver; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio, union leaders said.
Starbucks Workers United, the union that has organized workers at 535 company-owned U.S. stores since 2021, Strikes started from Friday in Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle to protest the lack of progress in contract negotiations with the company.
According to the union, the company has failed to honor a commitment it made in February to reach a labor agreement this year. Workers United has said the latest strike could spread to hundreds of stores across the country by Christmas Eve.
The union said Friday that Starbucks has proposed an economic package that includes no new pay increases for now-unionized baristas and a 1.5% raise in future years.
In a post on Twitter on Sunday, the union said picket lines had spread to Brooklyn and New York's Long Island, St. Louis and Pittsburgh. Without giving any specific numbers, labor leaders said dozens of Starbucks stores are now affected by the strike. On Monday, baristas at several Philadelphia Starbucks locations Joined the nationwide strike Even against the company.
“We were prepared to bring home the basic infrastructure this year, but Starbucks was not,” Lynn Fox, president of Workers United, said in a statement. “After Starbucks has stated how they value partners throughout the system, we refuse to accept zero immediate investment in barista wages and no resolution of the hundreds of outstanding unfair labor practices.”
Starbucks said Workers United ended its bargaining session prematurely this week. The company also says it already offers $30 an hour wage and benefits for baristas who work at least 20 hours per week.
Attacks on Starbucks and Amazon
The union also wants Starbucks to resolve outstanding legal issues, including hundreds of unfair labor practice allegations that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board. The agency has also opened or settled hundreds of charges against Amazon. On Thursday, the day before the Starbucks walkout, the Teamsters union declared a strike At seven Amazon delivery hubs.
Amazon Delivery Driver and Starbucks Barista Strike is going on in some cities of America Because they want to pressure the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or meet the demands of the inaugural labor contract.
The strikes that began Thursday and Friday follow other recent standoffs between corporate America and organized workers. Large and established labor unions won significant employer concessions this year after strikes boeing factory workerson the dockyard Eastern and Gulf Coast portsvideo games artistAnd Hotel and Casino Employees On the Las Vegas Strip.
But workers at Starbucks, Amazon and some other major consumer brands are still fighting for their first contracts. Amazon has refused to acknowledge the organizing efforts of drivers and warehouse workers — many of whom have voted to form a union — even though the powerful Teamsters union says it represents them.
The e-commerce giant says delivery drivers, whom the Teamsters have organized for more than a year, are not its employees. Under its business model, drivers work for third-party businesses, called delivery service partners, delivering millions of packages to customers every day.
“For over a year now, the Teamsters have continued to knowingly mislead the public – claiming they represent 'thousands of Amazon workers and drivers.' They don't, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” said Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel. said in a recent statement,
Meanwhile, Starbucks has long opposed unionization of its stores, but had agreed to negotiate a contract by the end of the year.
Strikes – especially those that occur during holidays, a time of high economic activity – can help unions flex their muscles by gaining leverage during negotiations or gaining support from workers and sympathetic consumers.
Wave of union efforts after Covid-19
Amazon and Starbucks both saw a wave of organizing efforts following the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic focused attention on the impact of economic inequality on the lives of frontline workers and wage-earning Americans.
Employees organized at bookstores, where unions are rare, and succeeded in campaigning at some stores operated by Apple, Trader Joe's and outdoor equipment company REI.
But converting those wins into contracts can be a challenge. At Amazon and Starbucks, which were not unionized before the pandemic, workers have yet to reach an agreement with the e-commerce and coffee giants, both headquartered in Seattle.
Unions' last attempt before Trump
John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, said he thinks Amazon and Starbucks workers are “desperate” to make progress before President-elect Donald Trump appoints a Republican majority to the National Labor Relations Board. who are expected to be less friendly toward unions during his administration.
“The unions want to publicize these disputes and put political pressure on the companies,” Logan said in a written statement. “If these disputes drag on into next year, and if they are fought largely through labor boards and courts, unions and workers will almost certainly suffer losses. This may be his last, best chance to put him in office.”
However, Trump has also given some indication that he may be friendlier to workers during his second term than during his first term. Last month, he chose Oregon Representative Lori Chavez-Deremer to lead the Labor Department in his new administration, promoting a Republican congresswoman who has strong support from unions, including the Teamsters. Teamsters President Sean O'Brien also spoke at the Republican National Convention last summer.
The Teamsters say Amazon workers are striking at seven delivery stations in Southern California, San Francisco, New York City, Atlanta and Skokie, Illinois, after the company ignored a Sunday deadline set by the union for contract negotiations. Is. At midnight Saturday, the Teamsters say workers will also strike at a major New York warehouse, which voted to join the fledgling Amazon labor union in 2022 and has since chosen to affiliate with the Teamsters.
union demand
The major labor group says it is fighting for higher wages, better benefits and safer working conditions for Amazon workers, many of whom experience economic insecurity while working for the $2.3 trillion company. It has not said how many Amazon warehouse workers or drivers are joining the strike.
The union has focused primarily on organizing delivery drivers, whom the company says are not its employees because they are employed directly by contractors hired by Amazon to handle package deliveries.
This type of setup gives Amazon more cover from unionization efforts in an industry — transportation and trucking — that is dominated by the Teamsters. However, the union has argued before the National Labor Relations Board that drivers who wear Amazon's ubiquitous grey-blue jackets and drive similarly colored vans should be classified as company employees.
Meanwhile, the online retailer has accused the union of presenting a “false narrative” about the thousands of workers it claims to represent. Amazon has also praised its pay, saying it offers warehouse and transportation workers a base salary of $22 an hour plus benefits. It also recently raised hourly wages for sub-contracted delivery drivers.
NLRB under Biden
In September, the NLRB, which has taken a more pro-labor stance under President Joe Biden, filed a complaint that found the drivers were unionized Amazon employees. The agency also accused Amazon of unlawfully failing to bargain with the Teamsters over the contracts of drivers at California delivery hubs.
The Teamsters union says it also represents Amazon warehouse workers, including thousands of workers at the major New York City fulfillment center who voted to be represented by the Amazon labor union.
Amazon objected to the 2022 warehouse election results, alleging that the Amazon labor union and the Federal Labor Board had rigged the vote. A regional NLRB director issued a complaint last year accusing Amazon of violating the law by refusing to bargain with the union.
Amazon, in turn, is challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB in federal court along with Elon Musk's SpaceX. In June, the Supreme Court sided with Starbucks in a case brought by the company, making it harder for the agency to win court orders in labor disputes.
Unlike Amazon, contract negotiations are ongoing at Starbucks. Employees at the coffee chain walked off the job twice last year.
Patricia Campos-Medina, who recently ran for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in New Jersey and leads Cornell University's Worker Institute in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said she expects Trump to take office. There will be more union activity before.
Trump's reactions will give the public a chance to see what his “commitments are to the working class,” said Campos-Medina.