Unionized Starbucks workers at more than 100 U.S. stores, including six in the Twin Cities, are on strike Thursday, making it the largest labor action since a campaign to unionize stores began late last year.
WCCO Radio's Jason DeRusha has confirmed Thursday that workers outside the Starbucks on Silver Lake Rd in St. Anthony Village are protesting and blocking the drive thru stating “no contract, no coffee!”
Marshall Steele, a Starbucks employee in St. Paul, told WCCO's Mark Freie they have more managers than they have employees which creates major staffing issues.
"They have more managers working in there in the store right now than they have ever given us employees on the floor in the middle of peak rush hours," explains Steele. "Routinely, we are down to two people on the floor at one time when we're doing 50 customers in a half hour. It's draining and it's unsafe. We've got boiling water, we've got ovens and stuff, and we've got two people running back-and-forth. It's inhumane for the workers."
Steele also says negotiations with Starbucks are the other reason they walked out. Their goal is to create a contract between the newly formed union and the company.
"Starbucks walked out of negotiations minutes in, they never even introduced themselves at the table," says Steele. "We are out here on strike to actually come back to the table and negotiate the contract we voted for."
The walkouts coincide with the company's annual Red Cup Day, when Starbucks gives free reusable cups to customers who order a holiday drink.
Workers are seeking better pay, more consistent schedules and better staffing. Starbucks opposes the unionization effort saying the company functions best when it works directly with employees. The Seattle coffee giant has more than 9,000 company-owned stores in the U.S.
Stores in 25 states planned to take part in the labor action, according to Starbucks Workers United, the group organizing the effort. Some workers planned to picket all day while others planned shorter walkouts. The union said the goal is to shut the stores down during the walkouts.
There are six stores in the Twin Cities that have voted to unionize. Those are at 300 Snelling in St. Paul, 47th and Cedar in Minneapolis, 37th and Silver Lake Road in St. Anthony, 2305 Fairview Avenue North in Roseville, and the first floor of the Mall of America in Bloomington. A store in at 5122 Industrial Blvd in Edina has also recently voted to unionize.
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A Starbucks on Lyndale Ave. S. in Minneapolis and a store in Eden Prairie rejected the union vote, and unionization was withdrawn at a store in Rochester.
At least 257 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late last year, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Fifty-seven stores have held votes where workers opted not to unionize.
Starbucks and the union have begun contract talks at 53 stores, with 13 additional sessions scheduled, Starbucks Workers United said. No agreements have been reached so far.
The process has been contentious. Earlier this week, a regional director with the National Labor Relations Board filed a request for an injunction against Starbucks in federal court, saying the company violated labor law when it fired a union organizer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The regional director asked the court to direct Starbucks to reinstate the employee and stop interfering in the unionization campaign nationwide.
It was the fourth time the NLRB has asked a federal court to intervene. In August, a federal judge ruled that Starbucks had to reinstate seven union organizers who were fired in Memphis, Tennessee. A similar case in Buffalo has yet to be decided, while a federal judge ruled against the NLRB in a case in Phoenix.
Meanwhile, Starbucks has asked the NLRB to temporarily suspend all union elections at its U.S. stores, citing allegations from a board employee that regional officials improperly coordinated with union organizers.
A decision in that case is pending.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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