Starbucks Workers United set to vote on strike authorization

Starbucks Workers United is kicking off a strike authorization vote Friday, as the union representing baristas makes a bid to secure a contract with the coffee giant.

The union also said it is planning a wave of rallies and pickets across the country with its baristas and allies.

Voting on authorizing a strike at unionized cafes will be open for several days. If approved, the strike itself would be open-ended, with specifics to be determined. As the voting occurs, seventy rallies and pickets will take place from Friday through Nov. 1 across 60 cities, the union said. If the union votes to go on strike, this would be the third national strike to take place since last December.

The two sides are not in active negotiations to reach a contract after talks between them fell apart in December of 2024. In February, the two parties entered into mediation, and hundreds of barista delegates voted down the economic package Starbucks proposed in April.

Workers United says it is pushing to secure a contract that addresses three key issues. The union is demanding “better hours to improve staffing,” higher take-home pay (though it did not specify a wage number) and “resolution for hundreds of outstanding unfair labor practice charges.” Workers United, which began organizing at Starbucks in 2021, now represents over 12,000 workers across more than 650 stores. The number of unionized stores is still small, as Starbucks has over 18,000 locations in North America, both company-operated and licensed.

“We’re going to do whatever it takes to secure this contract,” Jasmine Leli, a barista at a unionized store in Buffalo, N.Y., who has been involved in regional and national bargaining, told CNBC in an interview. The union, which held a national wave of pickets in 35 cities in September and October, claims it would cost the company less than one average days’ sales to settle the contract.

Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson said in a statement that “Workers United only represents around 4% of our partners but chose to walk away from the bargaining table. If they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk.”

Any agreement needs to reflect the reality that Starbucks already offers the best job in retail, she added. “Hourly partners earn more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits and we’re investing over $500 million to put more partners in stores during busy times.”

“The facts show people like working at Starbucks. Partner engagement is up, turnover is nearly half the industry average, and we get more than 1 million job applications a year,” Anderson said.

Starbucks is set to report earnings for the fourth quarter on Wednesday. The stock is down 6% year-to-date, and same-store sales have fallen for six straight quarters.

The company is in the midst of a turnaround plan under new CEO Brian Niccol, dubbed “Back to Starbucks.” As part of the strategy, the company announced the rollout of its Green Apron Service plans, which rely on warm and engaging interactions between baristas and customers in the hopes of making Starbucks visits a habit.

The program is backed by changes to ensure proper staffing and better technology to keep service times fast. It was born out of growth in digital orders, which now make up more than 30% of sales, and feedback from baristas, the company has said.

The Green Apron Service push is the largest investment the company has ever made in hospitality and its store employees, Starbucks has said. On the company’s third-quarter earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Cathy Smith said Starbucks will invest more than $500 million in labor hours across company-owned cafes in the next year, starting with the Green Apron Service rollout. Starbucks also began a pilot program in late September for its assistant store manager position. It now has 62 assistant store managers in newly-created leadership roles across six regions. The company says 90% of these hires are internal promotions.

Staffing has been an ongoing issue for baristas who have organized. Niccol has faced somewhat less scrutiny from the union than his predecessors have, namely former CEO Howard Schultz, who took a more combative approach.

In September, the company announced a $1 billion restructuring plan that involves closing some 500 of its North American stores, according to analyst estimates, and laying off 900 workers in non-retail roles. The union says it secured additional benefits for workers through effects bargaining at the 59 unionized stores that are closing as a result of the restructuring, including severance even if they turn down a transfer offer and extended health benefits.

At the time of the restructuring, Starbucks said in a statement that “given the industry-leading offer provided to impacted partners — including reassignment opportunities, where possible and generous severance — we were able to quickly reach and agreement with Workers United to similarly help represented partners through this transition. This reflects our commitment to partner care.”

The company added that it reached out to Workers United to work on a framework for how the changes would impact baristas in union cafes.