A Starbucks union strike has extended past its five-day mark and resulted in the closure of 59 stores by Monday afternoon amid the company’s busiest season.
The strike spread from where it started in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle, to Boston, Dallas, and Portland, while other locations in cities such as Denver, New York, and Pittsburgh followed over the weekend.
The union said the company backtracked “on our promised path forward.”
“Since February, Starbucks has repeatedly pledged publicly that they intend to reach contracts by the end of the year—but they’ve yet to present workers with a serious economic proposal,” the union said. “This week, less than two weeks before their end-of-year deadline, Starbucks proposed no immediate wage increase for union baristas, and a guarantee of only 1.5 percent wage increases in future years.”
The strike will extend to Christmas Eve, the union said, “unless Starbucks honors our commitment.”
“It’s time to finalize the foundational framework that included meaningful investments to resolve unfair labor practice charges,” said Silvia Baldwin, a Philadelphia barista and bargaining delegate.
“After all Starbucks has said about how they value partners throughout the system, we refuse to accept zero immediate investment in baristas’ wages with no resolution of the hundreds of outstanding unfair labor practices,” said union president Lynne Fox in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.
A Starbucks spokesperson told The Associated Press that the strikes had “no significant impact” despite being the busiest time of the year for the 10,000 store locations in the United States amid the holiday rush.
“We respect our partners’ right to engage in lawful strike activity, and we appreciate the thousands of partners across the country who are continuing to support each other and deliver the Starbucks experience for our customers,” the company said.
