Starbucks’ largest workers union announced that it would go on strike in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle, where it is headquartered, just days ahead of Christmas.
On Wednesday, the union told BI that it would strike to protest hundreds of unresolved unfair labor practice cases and the company’s failure to negotiate a sufficiently comprehensive pay package.
“Starbucks baristas are going on five days of escalating ULP strikes in response to the company backtracking on our promised path forward, starting tomorrow in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Seattle,” Starbucks Workers United said in Thursday statements.
It added that the strikes would soon be “coast-to-coast.”
In a statement to BI, the union said the strikes could reach “hundreds of stores” unless the company works to achieve collective bargaining agreements.
The company has 11,161 self-operated stores and 7,263 licensed stores in North America. As of October, about 500 — or about 4.5% — of all stores were unionized.
In a Thursday post on Instagram, the union said, “Since February, Starbucks has repeatedly pledged publicly that they intended to reach contracts by the end of the year – but they’ve yet to present workers with a serious economic proposal.”
Starbucks said in a public statement that the union delegates “prematurely ended” the bargaining session this week, and that it was “disappointing they didn’t return to the table given the progress we’ve made to date.”
“We are ready to continue negotiations to reach agreements,” the company wrote. “We need the union to return to the table.”
The union, which represents more than 10,000 baristas, said on Tuesday that 98% of its member baristas had voted to authorize the strike.
News of the strike came just days after CEO Brian Niccol announced a change in the company’s parental leave policy for US store employees.
Starting in March, Starbucks will offer up to 18 weeks of paid leave for birth parents and up to 12 weeks for nonbirth parents. The company currently offers US store employees six weeks of paid parental leave and up to 12 weeks unpaid. The increased benefit will apply to employees averaging at least 20 hours of work a week.
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