Copyright Los Angeles Times
Unionized Starbucks baristas have voted overwhelmingly to authorize their leaders to call a strike as soon as next week if the coffee giant doesn’t make new proposals or they don’t see real progress in contract talks. The authorization was approved by 92% of those who voted, Starbucks Workers United said Wednesday morning. Michelle Eisen, a spokesperson for the union and a former Starbucks worker of 15 years, said the vote follows six months of Starbucks failing to offer new proposals to address workers’ staffing concerns. The union said baristas were prepared to strike if a contract is not finalized by Nov. 13. “Union baristas mean business and are ready to do whatever it takes to win a fair contract,” Eisen said in a statement. “If Starbucks keeps stonewalling, they should expect to see their business grind to a halt. The ball is in Starbucks’ court.” Starbucks did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Starbucks Workers United represents 12,000 workers at some 650 coffee shops. Their membership represents about 5% of Starbucks’ U.S. workforce, according to the company. The strike authorization vote, just before the critical holiday season, comes as the coffee giant has contended with flat or declining sales in some U.S. stores this year. Hopes that the two sides would be able to hammer out a deal had been high since early last year, when Starbucks — which had previously been accused by federal regulators of unlawfully firing workers — pledged publicly to work with the union. But contract talks broke down in December. In February, federal mediators were brought in to resolve the dispute, but little progress was made. In April, the union voted to reject the coffee chain’s latest proposal that guaranteed annual raises would not fall below 2%. Since then, the union has regularly asked the company to return to the bargaining table, but has been met with silence for months, Eisen has said. Unionized workers have also taken issue with recent store closures that have affected dozens of California stores, and new policies such as the updated uniform and requirements for handwritten messages on coffee cups that they say create bigger workloads. They say these policies have been implemented without proper bargaining, and are among the reasons workers are gearing up for a strike. The company has maintained that the union is to blame for stalled contract talks by walking away from negotiations last winter. Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson said last month that “allegations by Workers United have all previously been debunked and are without merit.” “Our commitment to bargaining with Workers United and reaching agreements has not changed,” Anderson said.
