Read our editorial on the significance of strikes here.
The nationwide Starbucks strike has entered its 4th week as it continues to spread to more locations, with over 3,800 workers at over 180 stores striking as of 12/11 according to Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing the striking workers.
Unlike last year’s time-bound strike, the strike will continue indefinitely, according to Starbucks Workers United, until the company proposes a contract that includes higher wages, adequate staffing, and the resolution of Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges—including for firing union activists for organizing. Starbucks has the greatest wage difference between the CEO and an average worker among the 500 largest monopolies according to a report by AFL-CIO, and the monopoly also leads in having the highest number of ULP charges filed against them since the inception of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
The union states that over 100 actions took place across the country last week in support of the strike. In New York City last Thursday (12/4), around 100 workers and supporters rallied outside of the Empire State Building—home of the monopoly’s regional headquarters—where NYPD arrested 12 for blocking the entrance of the building. On Monday (12/1), Starbucks workers rallied with workers represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Teamsters outside CEO Brian Niccol’s office in Newport Beach, CA. On 11/19, hundreds formed a blockade around a Starbucks distribution center in East Manchester Township, PA, preventing deliveries out of the company’s largest center in the country for hours. Truck drivers stopped deliveries and honked in support of the strike.
Striking workers spoke with The Worker about how the current strike differs from previous Starbucks strikes. “This time our strike is way bigger […] We have a more diverse array of tactic to get our demands met,” a striking worker in NYC stated. A striking worker in Louisville, KY said, “The vibe is a lot, the energy is a lot higher now than it was last strike […] so many people are willing to come out and organize.”
Workers attributed the increased energy and militancy of the strike to worsening working and living conditions from the deepening economic crisis. “The organizing is going to explode because so many people are struggling to afford rents, food now, healthcare now. I just see more and more people going, oh, we actually have a voice in this, we have a say in how things play out. I see this becoming like a huge movement over the next five, 10 years, I can’t imagine this ending with just Starbucks,” the worker in Louisville stated. A former Starbucks worker supporting the strike in Los Angeles, CA, emphasized, “Jobs are only going to get worse and worse unless there’s a disruption like this.” An Amazon worker who joined the NYC rally said: “It’s a combination of the right conditions and people’s decisions. Things have gotten to a point where a lot of companies have consolidated their control over the economy, have become monopolistic. They’ve eroded working conditions to a certain point that it’s easy to agitate people at those companies. […] There are other conditions to speak of, and then there’s the people. At the end of the day, it takes dedicated people who are willing to face, you know, company terrorism, which is basically what this is, to kick it off.”
Workers shared that readers can support the strike by boycotting Starbucks, donating to the strike fund, and joining the pickets. “The biggest support is being able to rally around supporters and other unions,” the NYC Starbucks worker stated, “This is a historic strike for food service and retail industries, the biggest Workers United strike in over a 100 years. We are going to keep snowballing until our demands are won.”
Image: December 4 rally of Starbucks workers and supporters at the Empire State Building, NYC.
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