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STARBUCKS WORKERS HAVE LAUNCHED A NATIONWIDE STRIKE AND CONSUMER
BOYCOTT OF THE COFFEE CHAIN  
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Stephen Prager
November 13, 2025
Common Dreams
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_ As its workers fight for a living wage and demand that the company
address hundreds of labor violation complaints, Starbucks Workers
United says it’s prepared for the “biggest and longest” strike
in the company’s history. _

Starbucks workers hold signs as they picket during a strike in front
of a Starbucks to demand collective bargaining agreements in Burbank,
California. , FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

 

As hundreds of Starbucks workers
[[link removed]] go on strike across the US
to protest [[link removed]] the company’s
unfair labor practices, its union is telling customers to boycott the
company in hopes of pressuring it to return to the bargaining table to
negotiate its first union contract.

“As of today, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON
STRIKE,” said Starbucks Workers United, the union representing
nearly 10,000 baristas, on social media
[[link removed]] Thursday.
​“We’re prepared for this to become the biggest and longest
[unfair labor practices] strike in Starbucks history.”

The union implored
[[link removed]]
customers: ​“DON’T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our
open-ended ULP strike!”

The strike comes after negotiations between the union and the company
stalled out in April. Last week, 92% of union baristas voted to
authorize a strike as the company’s lucrative holiday season began.
They are hoping to turn the company’s annual ​“Red Cup Day,”
during which it gives out free reusable cups to customers, into a
​“Red Cup Rebellion.”

The union says three of its core demands
[[link removed]] remain unmet. It has called
for the company to address ​“rampant” understaffing, which it
says has led to longer wait times for customers and overwhelmed staff,
while simultaneously leaving workers without enough hours to afford
the cost of living.

It also seeks higher take-home pay for workers. Starting baristas make
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just over $15 per hour, which data
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from MIT shows is not enough to afford the cost of living in any U.S.
state when working 40 hours a week. According to the union, most
Starbucks workers receive fewer than 20 hours of work per week,
rendering them ineligible for benefits.

The union has drawn a contrast between its workers’ pay, which
averages less than $15,000 a year, and that of CEO Brian Niccol, who
raked in [[link removed]]
a total compensation package of $96 million in just four months after
taking over last year.

“Too many of us rely on SNAP [[link removed]]
or Medicaid [[link removed]] just to get
by, and most baristas still don’t earn a livable wage
[[link removed]]. In a majority of
states, starting pay is just $15.25 an hour — and even then,
we’re not getting the 20 hours a week we need to qualify for
benefits,” said Jasmine Leli, a barista and strike captain from
Buffalo, New York, where the first Starbucks store in the nation voted
to unionize
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back in 2021.

The company has gone nearly four years without recognizing it. While
it claims
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to have engaged with the union in ​“good faith,” the National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has found
[[link removed](2025).]Starbucks
guilty of over 500 labor law violations, making it the worst violator
in modern history.

These have included illegal firings and disciplinary actions against
union organizers, the illegal withholding of wages and benefits,
threats to close stores that unionize, and illegal surveillance of
employees. More than 700 unfair labor practice charges
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made against the company remain unresolved, including 125 of them
filed since January.

According to an estimate
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from the Strategic Organizing Center, Starbucks’ union-busting had
cost the company more than $240 million through February 2024. That
money was lost in the form of legal fees and payments to consultants,
as well as productivity lost due to anti-union store closures and
captive audience meetings.

“Things have only gone backwards at Starbucks under Niccol’s
leadership,” Leli said. ​“But a fair union contract and the
resolution of hundreds of unfair labor practice charges are essential
to the company’s turnaround.”

The union has argued that in order to meet their demands for a fair
contract, it would cost less than a single day’s sales.

Starbucks employees have long fought against consistently
unpredictable schedules, short staffing, low pay, and unfair labor
practices.Today, @SBWorkersUnited
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to demand progress in stalled negotiations.Solidarity✊🏽

— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) November 13, 2025
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The strike begins just days after 85 U.S. lawmakers — led by
Sen. Bernie Sanders [[link removed]]
(I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal
[[link removed]] (D-Wash.)—sent
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demanding that the company stop union-busting and negotiate a fair
deal with its employees.

“Starbucks is not a poor company,” the Senate letter
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said to Niccol. ​“Last year, Starbucks made over $3.6 billion in
profit and paid out nearly $5 billion in stock buybacks
[[link removed]] and dividends. In
fact, in the first three quarters of the year, Starbucks made $1.7
billion in profit and paid out over $2 billion in dividends. Last
year, you made $95 million in compensation for the four months you
worked in 2024, roughly 6,666 times more than what your average worker
was paid for the entire year.”

“Despite that extravagant spending on executives and shareholders,
Starbucks refuses to reach an agreement with its own workers even
though you are less than one average day’s sales apart from
a contract,” it continued. ​“Starbucks must reverse course from
its current posture, resolve its existing labor disputes, and bargain
a fair contract in good faith with these employees.”

The strike will begin at 65 stores across more than 40 U.S. cities,
with rallies [[link removed]] scheduled in New
York, Philadelphia [[link removed]],
Chicago, Columbus, and Anaheim, among other locations. The union said
the strike is ​“open-ended,” with no set end date, and that
baristas across more than 550 unionized stores across the country are
prepared to join in.

“If Starbucks keeps stonewalling a fair contract and refusing to
end union-busting, they’ll see their business grind to a halt,”
said Michelle Eisen, a spokesperson for Starbucks Workers United, who
has worked as a barista for 15 years. “‘No contract, no
coffee’ is more than a tagline — it’s a pledge to
interrupt Starbucks’ operations and profits until a fair union
contract and an end to unfair labor practices are won.”

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* Starbucks; Starbucks Workers United; National Strikes;
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