A Starbucks employee boards a Starbucks union bus after Starbucks employees stand on a picket line with striking SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America members in a show of solidarity outside Netflix Studios in Los Angeles on July 28, 2023.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Starbucks The union said on Tuesday that 98% of unionized baristas voted to authorize a strike to seek a contract with the coffee giant.
Negotiators are due to return to talks with Starbucks on Tuesday in their last scheduled meeting of the year, aiming to agree on a “basic framework.” Starbucks and the union have spent hundreds of hours at the bargaining table this year, with both sides proposing dozens of tentative agreements, the company said in a news release.
However, hundreds of unfair labor practice cases remain unresolved, and the union says Starbucks has yet to come up with a comprehensive plan to address barista wages and other benefits.
In a statement to CNBC, Starbucks disputed the union’s characterization and said the company remained committed to a final framework agreement.
“It is disappointing that the union is considering a strike rather than focusing on extremely productive negotiations. Since April we have scheduled and participated in more than eight multi-day bargaining sessions in which we have Thirty meaningful agreements were reached across ten topics that workers’ union representatives told us are important to them, including many economic issues,” the company said in a statement.
The strike authorization indicates that relations may cool again after a thaw in late February. Both parties expressed They found a “constructive way forward” through mediation. Starbucks has been battling union fervor sweeping its stores for more than two years. The company’s attempts to curb the union movement met with backlash from some consumers and lawmakers, ultimately leading to the collapse of the former union movement. CEO Howard Schultz testifies on Capitol Hill.
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol joined the company in September. Committed to bargaining He made this point sincerely in a letter he wrote to the union in his first weeks in office.
Nicholas announced on monday Starting in March, the company will double paid parental leave. However, the barista will reportedly received Next year’s annual raise will be smaller than in previous years due to falling sales at U.S. stores.
Since the formation of Workers United, more than 500 company-owned Starbucks cafes have voted to form a union. first election That happened three years ago in Buffalo.
Representatives for Starbucks did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
