Posts tagged Starbucks Workers United
Is “Salting” the Future of Organized Labor?
August 3, 2025 // MA: Another point to just make is that as a salt, you have to earn your keep. Yes, you’re in closer proximity to people, and you can talk to them and build relationships. But part of that is also like doing the work, being taken seriously as a fellow worker, who knows what the hell you’re talking about. JB: Exactly. You have to be a good coworker. I worked at Starbucks for eight months before ever saying the word union. And my role wasn’t to be the vanguard of the revolution. It was to find people, like Michelle Eisen, whose family were coal miners in Harlan County, Kentucky, who had a deep sense of social justice and a deep commitment to unions, and who quickly saw that her legacy at Starbucks could be helping build a union for everybody who would come after her.
Why new Starbucks dress code prompted over 2,000 baristas to walk out on strike
May 20, 2025 // Starbucks said in its announcement the new design provided a "more defined color palette includes any solid black short and long-sleeved crewneck, collared, or button-up shirts and any shade of khaki, black, or blue denim bottoms" and it's "making a new line of company branded t-shirts available to partners, who will receive two at no cost." What they're saying: A striking barista said in a video posted Thursday to the union's Bluesky account that Starbucks "made a big decision about our jobs without bargaining with us, and this time it's a new restrictive dress code, one that we're paying or out of pocket."
Starbucks union workers strike over dress code changes
May 16, 2025 // The company restricted its dress code to solid black long and short-sleeved shirts, company branded t-shirts and black, khaki or blue denim pants — a significant restriction of its dress rules. The union also filed an amendment to unfair labor practice charges stating the dress code changes “materially differed from both the status quo and what the parties had tentatively agreed to at the bargaining table, thus undermining the Union’s representational status.”
Starbucks announces new barista dress code. Here’s what it looks like
April 17, 2025 // Starting on May 12, the company will require that its workers wear simple colors including any solid black short- or long-sleeved crew-neck, collared or button-up shirts with khaki, black or blue denim bottoms, according to its website. The announcement comes more than a week after Starbucks Workers United, the union representing workers at more than 525 stores across the U.S., sent a letter to the company demanding no dress code changes be implemented at union-represented stores until bargaining is completed.
Starbucks workers strike in six cities across the US with multiple supporters arrested
March 14, 2025 // In Chicago, 11 employees were arrested after staging a sit-in at one of the city’s first union Starbucks locations. Five people were arrested in Pittsburgh as well. Chicago police told the Seattle Times that strikers were arrested for criminal trespass “on signed complaints from an affected business.”
Park Slope Starbucks closing, after October unionization
January 17, 2025 // While Starbucks said in a statement that the company has “engaged Workers United to discuss transfer options for the 14 partners currently employed at this location to continue working at nearby stores,” Sammy said Starbucks had told partners they were not guaranteed a job at another store, but Starbucks would do its best to find them a position within the company.
Starbucks baristas to return to work after five-day strike
December 27, 2024 // The strike shut down more than 300 locations, including some in the Los Angeles area, after more than 5,000 Starbucks workers walked out last Tuesday. The union representing the baristas, called Starbucks Workers United says it is ready to return to the bargaining table. Talks with the company had stalled over pay, staffing and scheduling.
Starbucks Could Owe Millions To Baristas Who Unionized
October 16, 2024 // A new federal complaint alleges the chain slashed workers' schedules without bargaining. The new NLRB complaint alleges Starbucks changed workers’ hours “without prior notice to the Union and without affording the Union an opportunity to bargain.” The complaint also says Starbucks has refused to provide the union information about the changes and how they impacted members’ paychecks.
Starbucks workers at Nashville location vote to unionize
September 27, 2024 // Starbucks Workers United said the location at Hillsboro Pike and Graybar Lane is joining a growing movement of more than 10,500 baristas working together to “win justice at work.”
US orders Starbucks to reopen 2 New York stores company shut down after workers unionized
September 18, 2024 // Last year, the NLRB called on Starbucks to reopen 23 stores that labor advocates say were shuttered in response to workers unionizing. The locations spanned multiple major US cities, including Chicago, Portland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Seattle, where Starbucks is headquartered, among others.