Employees of Denver’s unionized Starbucks stores went on strike Saturday to protest what they say is the coffee company’s refusal to negotiate over pay and address unfair labor practice complaints.
The strike organized by Starbucks Workers United started at Starbucks’ Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles locations Friday and expanded to include stores in Denver, Columbus and Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Barista Shay Mannik joined his coworkers on the picket line outside of the chain’s University Hills store Saturday morning. He said the group was “in high spirits” and had set up lawn chairs after the store’s management took away the location’s patio furniture to prevent its use by workers.
Mannik shares a home with a coworker and one other roommate but said he still spends more than half of his income every month on rent. He said he’s seen other coworkers walk back college plans and struggle to support children on an hourly wage that is barely above the minimum in Denver.
“They’ve entirely forced our hand to fight for a living wage here,” Mannik said. “They have the money, and they’re not investing it in the people who make their profits.”
Starbucks Workers United said in its news release that Starbucks submitted a proposal this month during ongoing contract negotiations that addressed wages but did not include immediate raises and guaranteed a minimum raise of only 1.5% in future years, which the union says amounts to less than 50 cents an hour for most baristas.
The union warned the strike will expand to include more stores every day until Tuesday or until Starbucks accommodates the union’s demands for raises and resolutions to what it says are hundreds of labor complaints.
Starbucks said in statements emailed Saturday and Sunday that the strike had “no significant impact to our store operations” and that company representatives were “disappointed” by the union’s decision to prematurely end a bargaining session this week.
“Since April, we’ve held more than nine bargaining sessions over 20 days. We’ve reached over thirty (30) meaningful agreements on hundreds of topics Workers United delegates told us were important to them, including many economic issues,” the company wrote.
The company also said that Workers United had asked for immediate pay increases of 64% for employees making minimum wage, increasing to 77% over three years, which it said is “not sustainable.”
Mannik makes $18.79 an hour. Factoring in pay, health care and other benefits, the company argued the average hourly earnings of an employee who works at least 20 hours a week are $30.
“We are ready to continue negotiations to reach agreements,” the company wrote. “We need the union to return to the table.”
Six Denver Starbucks stores are unionized under Workers United. On Friday, employees of a seventh store at Alameda Avenue and Federal Boulevard announced that they too are petitioning to join.
The union noted in its news release that the last weekend before Christmas is typically one of the busiest times for the chain.
“Union baristas know their value, and they’re not going to accept a proposal that doesn’t treat them as true partners,” Workers United president Lynne Fox said in the release.
