Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Workers strike at dozens of Starbucks
One-day ‘Red Cup Rebellion’ at unionized stores targets company policies
Starbucks employees went on strike Thursday at dozens of unionized locations nationwide, citing what they say is the company’s refusal to bargain in good faith and anti-union tactics like firings and store closings.
The work stoppage, which organizers have called “the Red Cup Rebellion,” after the reusable holiday-themed cups that Starbucks is distributing with certain purchases, was expected to last for the day.
Striking workers said they would distribute union branded cups to customers.
“Starbucks has left behind the very values that drew many of us to the company in the first place,” Michelle Eisen, a worker who helped organize the first of more than 250 locations that have unionized over the past year, said in a statement.
“You cannot be pro-LGTBQ, pro-BLM, pro-sustainability, and anti-union. This Red Cup Day, we’re organizing for a voice on the job and a true seat at the table,” Eisen said.
Starbucks, which has roughly 9,000 corporateowned stores in the United States, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The strike Thursday is the largest single labor action, at least in geographic sweep, that the union has undertaken since the campaign began.
The union said workers at more than 100 stores were taking part, though that number could not be independently verified.
The Starbucks at Wedington Drive and North Salem Road in Fayetteville recently voted to unionize, the first of the chain’s coffee shops to do so in Arkansas.
The election results were 11 votes for unionization under Workers United with 20 of the store’s 21 workers participating, according to a release from union organizers.
The group petitioned to form a union with Workers United in October.