A walkout at Starbucks is expanding to more than 300 U.S. stores on Tuesday, with roughly 5,000 workers expected to join the five-day job action that ends later in the day, the union said of employees
Workers at more than 60 stores walked off the job in 12 major cities on Monday, with the Christmas Eve walkout expected to be the largest yet by the Starbucks Workers Union, which represents workers at 525 stores throughout the country.
“Half the baristas in my shop drive 30 minutes each way because they can’t afford to live closer to work,” said Lauren Hollingsworth, a barista in Ashland, Ore., in a union statement. “These strikes are an initial show of strength,” he added.
The roughly 60 stores that were temporarily closed over the weekend and Monday represent “a very small number” of its more than 10,000 U.S. locations, Starbucks said.
“We anticipate that tomorrow, Christmas Eve, Workers United will try to get more stores to close,” said Sara Kelly, executive vice president and chief partner officer at Starbucks, who noted that 97 percent to 99 percent of its stores are not closed. would be affected .
“We stand ready to continue negotiations when the union returns to the bargaining table,” Kelly said in one statement released by the company on Monday. On Tuesday, the company referred to that statement when asked for comment on the extended strike.
The five-day strike started on fridaybringing it into play during the holiday shopping season, and expanded to include more stores in additional cities over the weekend, with workers protesting a lack of progress in contract talks with the Seattle-based company.
Where are the Starbucks strikes taking place?
Baristas have walked picket lines and shut down Starbucks locations in 13 metro areas in recent days, according to the union. This includes locations in:
- Boston
- Chicago
- Columbus, Ohio
- Denver
- los angeles
- New York City
- Philadelphia
- Pittsburgh
- Portland, Oregon
- Seattle
- St. Louis
- Tucson
Active picket lines planned for Tuesday include the following 10 locations, the union said:
- Atlanta 10830 Haynes Bridge Road, Alpharetta, GA 12 pm EST
- Buffalo, NY 933 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, NY 12:00 PM EST
- Chicago 5964 N Ridge Ave, Chicago, IL 12pm CST
- Columbus, Ohio 88 East Broad St, Columbus OH 43215 12 pm ET
- Dallas 2300 S Loop 288 Denton, TX 12 pm CST
- Los Angeles 3241 N Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 10:00 AM PST
- New York: Manhattan 444 Broadway, New York, NY 12:00 PM EST
- Philadelphia 1528 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 9:00 AM EST
- Portland 720 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 12pm PST
- Seattle Pike Street Roastery, 1124 Pike St, Seattle, WA 1pm PST
According to the union, the company has broken a commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year.
Starbucks proposed an economic package with no new pay increases for unionized baristas now and a 1.5 percent raise in future years, the union said Friday.
Starbucks said Workers United prematurely ended discussions this week. Their pay and benefits are already worth $30 an hour for those who work at least 20 hours a week, the coffee chain said.
The union also wants Starbucks to resolve outstanding legal issues, including hundreds of unfair labor practice charges that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board. The agency has also filed or settled hundreds of charges against Amazon. On Thursday, a day before the Starbucks walkouts, the Teamsters union announced strikes to seven Amazon fulfillment centers.