US Starbucks workers' strike expands to more cities shutting down almost 60 stores

The five-day strike from the Starbucks workers’ union which began in Los Angeles, Chicago and the coffee shop’s hometown of Seattle is threatening to quickly spread nationwide over continued contract disputes.

The strikes have since spread to northeast of the country, with multiple locations across Boston, Pittsburgh and New York joining the strikes. Further south, stores in Dallas and Denver followed suit, while the west coast strikes also expanded to accommodate stores in Portland, Oregon.

Starbucks staff are protesting a lack of progress in contract negotiations with the company. The union organising the strikes, Starbucks Workers United, says the global company failed to honour a commitment made in February to reach a contract arrangement with its staff during this year.

The union is also holding the company responsible for outstanding legal issues stemming from hundreds of unfair labour practices that Starbucks employees have reported to the National Labour Relations Board.

The Christmas holiday is one of the busiest times of the year for Starbucks, and a strike of this magnitude could surely make a dent on their final quarterly financials, but the company insists in a statement that the strikes, have had “no significant impact” on its store operations.

Starbucks and the union that represents its employees have been negotiating since the spring but failed to reach a middle point over financial disagreements.

Earlier this month, the company said it had committed to a minimum 1.5% annual pay increase or more for unionised workers in future years, but the union rejected the offer, instead demanding an immediate pay increase.

Starbucks says it pays its employees well. The international coffee chain said its US-based baristas made on average $18 (€17.30) an hour, excluding benefits. The company which operates more than 32,000 stores across 80 countries says its staff make an average of $30 (approx. €29) an hour when encompassing company benefits which include health coverage, free college tuition and paid family leave.

Workers say they deserve more, noting that the company’s new Chairman and CEO, Brian Niccol, is projected to make more than $100 million (€96.20 million) in income in his first year leading the company.