On July 28, 2023, outside Netflix Studios in Los Angeles, Starbucks employees stood on the picket line with striking members of the Screen Actors Guild Federation (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (Writers Guild of America) to show solidarity. Starbucks employees boarded a Starbucks union bus.
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Starbucks The union said on Tuesday that 98% of unionized baristas voted to authorize a strike to seek a contract with the coffee giant.
Negotiators will return to talks with Starbucks on Tuesday at the last scheduled meeting of the year, aiming to agree on a “basic framework.” Starbucks and the union have spent hundreds of hours at the bargaining table this year, with the two sides proposing dozens of tentative agreements, the company said in a news release.
However, hundreds of unfair labor practice cases remain unresolved, and the union says Starbucks has yet to come up with a comprehensive plan to address barista pay and other benefits.
In a statement to CNBC, Starbucks disputed the union’s characterization and said the company remained committed to a final framework agreement.
“It is disappointing that the union is considering a strike rather than focusing on extremely productive negotiations. Since April, we have scheduled and participated in more than eight multi-day bargaining sessions in which we have Thirty meaningful agreements were reached on ten topics that workers’ union representatives told us are important to them, including many economic issues,” the company said in a statement.
The strike authorization indicates that relations may be cooling again after a thaw in late February. Both parties expressed They found a “constructive way forward” through mediation. Starbucks has been battling union fervor sweeping its stores for more than two years. The company’s attempts to curb the union movement met with backlash from some consumers and lawmakers, ultimately leading to the collapse of the former union movement. CEO Howard Schultz testifies on Capitol Hill.
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol joined the company in September. Committed to bargaining He made this point sincerely in a letter he wrote to the union in his first weeks in office.
Nicholas announced on monday Starting in March, the company will double paid parental leave. However, the barista will reportedly received Next year’s annual raise will be smaller than in previous years due to falling sales at U.S. stores.
Since the establishment of the “United Workers”, more than 500 company-owned Starbucks cafes have voted to form a union. first election That happened three years ago in Buffalo.