Starbucks, union workers face off as old tensions over wages spill over | Labour Rights News

New York Metropolis, United States – A passionate crowd of some hundred folks lined the closely trafficked Fifth Avenue in New York Metropolis, cascading with picket indicators calling on espresso big Starbucks to barter a contract with its union.

Picketers held indicators saying “No Contract, No Espresso” and “Baristas on Strike” as they lined the sidewalk, blocking the entrance doorways of the Empire State Constructing, the one most iconic landmark in the USA and which homes an workplace for the corporate alongside one among its extra high-end signature shops known as Starbucks Reserve.

A number of demonstrators have been arrested. Two of the boys who recognized themselves as “T-bone” and “Elon” spoke to Al Jazeera about why they’re picketing.

“Cease stalling contracts, negotiate with the employees and signal a contract for truthful wages,” Elon, one of many detained baristas, advised Al Jazeera as he was loaded into an NYPD bus.

Starbucks Employees United advised Al Jazeera {that a} complete of 12 folks have been arrested, however the NYPD didn’t reply to Al Jazeera’s request to verify the figures.

Representatives for Starbucks stated as per their “tough estimate”, solely 25 folks within the crowd have been truly crew members.

Representatives for Starbucks Employees United disputed that and advised Al Jazeera that greater than 100 baristas have been in attendance.

That is the third straight week of open-ended strikes, which started on November 13 because the union requires Starbucks to supply them a contract.

Confrontation

These tensions will not be new for the corporate, which operates 18,300 shops within the US and Canada. They arrive amid a longstanding history of the coffeeshop chain being at odds with its staff. In December 2024, staff hit the picket line when negotiations for a contract that had began in April, stalled.

On the time, the union rejected a proposal that assured raises of two p.c, however didn’t embody any enhancements in healthcare packages, which staff stated have been insufficient. Starbucks has not budged.

“We’re targeted on persevering with to supply the most effective job in retail, together with greater than $30 an hour on common in pay and advantages for hourly companions. The information converse for themselves: accomplice engagement is up, turnover is almost half the trade common, and we get greater than 1 million job functions a 12 months,” Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson advised Al Jazeera.

Starbucks Employees United factors out that beginning wages, which don’t embody ideas, in 33 states are $15.25 per hour. That’s what Al Jazeera discovered on Starbucks’ jobs board: a barista place in Elko, Nevada begins at  $15.25, a supervisor position in Kansas begins at $19.37 per hour, a barista position in Brooklyn, New York, is open for a beginning wage of $17.25 and a shift supervisor position that begins at $22.25 per hour.

The union stated that many baristas get lower than 20 hours per week, which is beneath the cut-off for advantages; Al Jazeera was unable to independently confirm these claims.

Starbucks stated that the union is demanding a 65 p.c pay enhance within the rapid future and 77 p.c over the subsequent three years, and better pay for different parts of their jobs, together with weekend hours, early or late hours, sorting stock, and dealing on days of promotions, like the shop’s Pink Cup Day, which usually brings in heavier visitors.

Starbucks Employees United has pushed again and has stated that it’s a misrepresentation of their requests and combines a number of proposals into one.

“That allegation just isn’t true. We offered a set of financial proposals as choices to barter over and finally get to extra pay and advantages. Starbucks merely stated ‘no’ to all of them, after which disingenuously added up all of the choices as in the event that they have been one cohesive demand,”  Michelle Eisen, Starbucks Employees United spokesperson, advised Al Jazeera.

“That will be like strolling into Starbucks, including up the complete menu, and saying it prices $1,000 to order a drink at Starbucks.”

Political strain

Starbucks can be dealing with elevated strain in New York Metropolis, the place the chain has 300 shops. Each the outgoing mayor, Eric Adams, and the incoming one, Zohran Mamdani, are placing strain on the corporate to satisfy union calls for.

This week, the present Adams administration solidified a $38.9m settlement with the coffeeshop chain for violations of town’s Honest Workweek regulation, which requires employers to offer predictable schedules, advance discover, and to provide present staff the chance for extra hours earlier than hiring new workers. The town’s Division of Client and Employee Safety (DCWP) stated the corporate dedicated greater than half one million violations of the regulation since 2021.

The settlement covers those that labored at one of many 300 places throughout New York Metropolis between July 4, 2021, and July 7, 2024.

Additionally this week, Mamdani and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders joined putting staff outdoors a Starbucks location in Brooklyn, New York.

Whereas Mamdani answered Al Jazeera’s questions on Tuesday in a information convention, his press crew didn’t reply to requests for remark following the arrests of members of the union he marched with solely two days earlier than.

Sanders — who in March 2023 grilled then-CEO Howard Schultz on union-busting allegations — advised Al Jazeera that momentum is now on the aspect of staff.

“I’ll let you know what can be completely different is that for years, 4 years have come and gone, and a whole bunch of retailers have voted to affix unions, 12,000 staff have voted to affix unions. And but Starbucks has refused to sit down down and negotiate a good contract,” Sanders advised Al Jazeera.

It’s not clear what the subsequent steps are. On the federal degree, below the administration of US President Donald Trump, the Nationwide Labor Relations Board — the federal company the place staff convey labour rights complaints to— has been scaled again.

Since Trump took workplace, the company has lacked quorum, which means there will not be sufficient members to make key choices associated to allegations of unfair labour practices. Earlier this 12 months, the Trump administration fired board member Gwynne Wilcox, and fired the final counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, two Biden-era appointees who took pro-labour stances.

Lengthy-term tensions

The nationwide motion — a wave of unionisation that has known as for higher pay has been years within the making, starting after a retailer in Buffalo, New York, voted to unionise in 2021.

Amongst allegations of union-busting practices below then CEO Schultz, is surveillance amongst staff and what are known as “captive viewers” conferences during which staff needed to take heed to anti-union messaging from the corporate.

In 2024, the NLRB dominated that Schultz made a risk to workers in a 2022 city corridor during which he stated, “Should you’re not pleased at Starbucks, you possibly can go work for one more firm.”

“There’s an exhaustion amongst New Yorkers on the sheer distinction between these staff, who can not afford to reside on this metropolis, and CEOs who’re making $96m a 12 months on the backs of those self same staff’ labour,” Mamdani stated.

Mamdani was referring to Brian Niccol, who took over as CEO from Schultz in September 2024, with a compensation package  of almost $96m — or 6,666 occasions the median worker wage. That represents the biggest CEO-to-worker pay hole among the many S&P 500, in keeping with the AFL-CIO’s Government Paywatch tracker.

With gross sales slumping, Niccol was introduced in with the hopes that he would flip the corporate round after a brief stint by Laxman Narasimhan, who was ousted by the board amid looming strain from activist buyers and slowing gross sales.

Starbucks Employees United stated that the previous CEO was on the negotiating desk.

“Bargaining commenced in an actual means below his [Narasimhan] management,” Eisen added.

A brand new CEO

Niccol’s appointment was a step again, in keeping with Eisen.

“We had a strong 9 months of actually good bargaining in 2024, which got here to a screeching halt when this present CEO stepped into that position,” stated Eisen, whose Buffalo location grew to become the primary retailer to vote to unionise.

Niccol has struggled to handle slumping gross sales. International same-store gross sales rose by 1 p.c within the fourth quarter of 2025 in comparison with the earlier quarter, lifted by worldwide markets. North America same-store gross sales remained flat.

In September, the Seattle-based espresso store chain introduced the closure of 1 p.c of its US shops. Whereas it doesn’t affect retailer staff, 900 company workers misplaced their jobs as a part of a $1bn restructuring plan.

Niccol got here from Chipotle, which confronted a slew of union-busting allegations and settlements below him in the course of the greater than six years he led the corporate. In 2023, the corporate closed its first unionised retailer in Augusta, Maine, and later agreed to pay workers of the shop $240,000 as a part of a settlement.

Chipotle additionally confronted comparable penalties from the Metropolis of New York, very like this week’s settlement with Starbucks. In 2022, the corporate agreed to pay $20m to settle allegations it violated city labour laws, together with failing to offer predictable schedules and paid sick depart. That settlement lined 13,000 staff.

Below Niccol, the chain was additionally accused of violating youngster labour legal guidelines and paid out settlements throughout the nation. In 2022, the corporate settled with the state of New Jersey for $7.75m after a state company discovered greater than 30,000 allegations of kid labour violations. In Massachusetts, the corporate paid nearly $2m to settle 13,000 allegations of kid labour regulation violations.

Employees hope that amid the settlement this week, renewed strain from lawmakers, and larger turnout of picketers can be sufficient to maneuver contract negotiations ahead.

“I believe this firm recognises that there are some critical systemic points inside it. I believe they do recognise that the folks with the options are those within the cafes each single day and we’re simply ready for them to select that dialog up so we will finalise that contract,” Eisen stated.

And the corporate spokesperson steered it’s as effectively amid a jab at strikers on the picket line.

“We’ve been very clear that we’re prepared to speak when the union is able to return to negotiations. As an alternative, they’re targeted on staging and selling a protest in New York Metropolis, the place they characterize solely 200 of the 4,500 companions in NYC,”  Anderson stated.