PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Starbucks’ biggest promotion day of the year involves a free, reusable holiday-themed red cup given to customers buying certain beverages. And that’s why unionized employees used Thursday’s Red Cup Day to strike, calling for better working conditions.
It’s called the “Red Cup Rebellion” — unionized Starbucks employees closing their stores for the day and picketing at non-unionized locations nationwide.
One such store in Philadelphia, the Starbucks at 20th and Market streets, had a sign on the door reading, “Our store is temporarily closed.” John Evenden, a barista at that store, was picketing in front of a non-union Starbucks at 18th and Spruce streets.
“The main point we want to strike about is [staffing], on special promotional days like … the Red Cup Day, which is one of Starbucks’ biggest-selling days, where they give away freebies to people who come in,” he explained. “That was a lot of strain on the staff who are working in the stores on that day, because partly, manning is not adjusted to take into account the fact that a lot more people are going to be coming into the stores.”
Meanwhile, Collin Kawan-Hemler, from South Philly, picketed along with baristas outside the Starbucks at 16th and Walnut streets, trying to get the union’s message to customers.
“I’m out here connecting with customers letting them know that long wait times and frustration with mobile order errors … all relate to working conditions,” he said. “We are out here trying to get customers to let Starbucks know to fairly deal with their workers.”
In a statement, a Starbucks spokesperson blamed the union for a failure to make progress in contract negotiations and noted the walkout involved just a fraction of the company‘s overall workforce.