11/13/2025
Starbucks workers across the United States have launched a nationwide strike, calling for a consumer boycott. SBWorkersUnited represents nearly 10,000 baristas and says the action may become the biggest and longest unfair labor practices strike in the company’s history.
Workers are striking to protest what they describe as unfair labor practices. The union is seeking action on understaffing, higher take-home pay, and sufficient weekly hours for workers to qualify for benefits. Starting baristas make just over fifteen dollars per hour, which Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) data shows is not enough to afford the cost of living in any state when working full-time. Many baristas receive fewer than twenty hours per week.
The National Labor Relations Board has found Starbucks guilty of more than five hundred labor law violations. More than seven hundred unfair labor practice charges remain unresolved. According to the Strategic Organizing Center, Starbucks’ union related legal fees, consultant payments, and lost productivity cost the company more than $240,000,000 through February 2024.
The union says meeting its contract proposals would cost less than one average day of Starbucks sales. Workers have drawn attention to CEO Brian Niccol’s compensation package, which totaled $96,000,000 over four months last year, compared with an average annual worker pay of less than $15,000.
Eighty-five members of Congress, led by Senators Bernie Sanders and Pramila Jayapal, have sent letters urging Starbucks to cease union-busting and negotiate a contract. The strike is beginning at sixty-five stores in more than forty cities. The union is asking customers not to buy Starbucks during the open-ended strike.
https://inthesetimes.com/article/starbucks-workers-united-strike-unfair-labor-boycott
