BRADLEY ROHLF
Workers at the Starbucks at Clayton Avenue and Lindbergh Boulevard picketed during a previous strike.
In a press release announcing their plans, the workers note that they've planned their strike for Red Cup Day, when the coffee giant hands out free reusable cups and is often one of the busiest days of the year for Starbucks.
They call it the Red Cup Rebellion, and it's part of a bigger movement, with strikes planned for November 16 across the U.S.
The union notes that earlier this fall, it filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board over Starbucks’ refusal to bargain around promotion days.
"Promotion days like Red Cup Day, half-off ThursYays and Buy One Get One Free offers cause a flood of customers to stores, without any additional staffing to cover the influx in orders," they write. "On Red Cup Day, drink orders pile up and are abandoned, lines are out the door, and Starbucks workers are left to handle angry customers who have had to wait much longer than usual for their beverages and food all while trying to make complicated holiday specialty beverages as fast as possible. When the supply of red cups runs out, customers get disappointed and often take their anger out on workers."
The strike also seeks to bring attention to what the union says is Starbucks' failure to bargain in general, a strategy that has included rewarding workers who don't unionize and offering upgrades like credit card tipping only in non-union shops.
A Starbucks spokesperson told the Guardian that it's the union that's delayed a contract, saying, “Despite escalating rhetoric and recurring rallies, Workers United hasn’t agreed to meet for contract bargaining in more than four months and has yet to deliver on any campaign promise made,” said Starbucks. “As we join together to celebrate the joy of the holiday season, we call on Workers United to come to the bargaining table and do the work of negotiating a first contract on behalf of the partners they represent.”
The eight local unionized Starbucks shops are at Lindbergh and Clayton, Hanley and Dale, Hampton and Wise, Kingshighway and Chippewa, Grand and Sidney, Gravois and Rock Hill, Valley Park, and Page and Ball.
So, if one of those stores is your local, might want to plan to get your caffeine fix somewhere else on Thursday — and say goodbye to that red cup. (And hey, maybe switch to a locally owned coffee shop while you're at it!)
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