No more coffee! Starbucks and the union have launched the largest strike in US history.

This New Year, Starbucks employees in the United States are not happy. In the past, Starbucks was the busiest during the holiday season. The Starbucks Union intentionally chose to launch a five-day strike during the New Year in the United States to protest against and sanction the management. So far, this strike initiated by the Starbucks Union has spread from Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, to New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Denver, Pittsburgh, and Ohio.

Starbucks union launched a major strike on the eve of Christmas

Starbucks Union members come from about 11,000 Starbucks stores across the United States, with approximately 200,000 employees joining. The Starbucks Union recently warned Starbucks management that as many as 98% of union partners voted to protest issues such as low wages, staffing, and employee benefits.

Starbucks and union representatives failed to reach an agreement on issues such as compensation, benefits, and work allocation during their meeting in early 2024. The union chose to retaliate with a strike during the busiest holiday period against the management.

Starbucks employees and baristas in the United States are low-wage workers.

Starbucks' union's statement said Starbucks has not raised wages to protect the interests of its employees. Lauren Hollingsworth, a barista at Starbucks in Oregon, USA, said that as a barista, she earns $15.49 per hour, but more than half of the baristas in the store have to commute for 30 minutes because they cannot afford to rent closer to work. The union said on Tuesday that representatives are ready to return to the negotiating table to address concerns about unfair labor treatment and wages.

Starbucks has been the subject of hundreds of complaints to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in recent years, including a complaint last year about hundreds of unfair labor practices at a Buffalo, New York store.

Starbucks employees demand: no new contract, no coffee for customers

It's hard to imagine that the baristas at Starbucks in the United States are treated very poorly when consumers buy expensive coffee at Starbucks. When my friend went to New York on a trip and waited for me at Starbucks, he said that a medium-sized coffee, including tax, was nearly eight dollars, which was shocking. I laughed and said it had been this expensive for a long time.

Being a barista at Starbucks is a high-pressure and super multi-tasking position, just like working in a convenience store in Taiwan. They not only have to handle cash registers, but also make coffee. Baristas have very compressed working hours and often face impatient customers. However, if they have worked in a Taiwanese convenience store before, they will find that the workers there are even more hardworking, handling various chores such as collecting payments, microwaving food, cleaning, and restocking shelves, while also juggling multiple roles.

Starbucks stock price has not been affected by the strike, but has instead increased slightly by 2.47% to $89.91. The union's concerns are well-founded. In addition to the Starbucks union initiating a strike, Amazon workers have also started a wave of strikes. After all, with Trump about to take office, his billionaire friends are taking up high-ranking positions one by one. Grassroots workers are afraid of the inflation and living pressures that will come next year, so they must take advantage of the majority of Americans starting to celebrate the New Year to protest, hoping to gain more room for dialogue. Please provide the source text to be translated.

This article will no longer make coffee! Starbucks Union joins forces with workers across the United States to launch the largest strike in history. It first appeared on ChainNews ABMedia.