A Starbucks worker boards a Starbucks union bus after Starbucks workers stand on a picket line with striking members of SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America outside Netflix studios on July 28, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Starbucks Workers United said Tuesday that 98% of union baristas voted to approve a strike as they seek a contract with the coffee giant.
Bargaining representatives will return to talks with Starbucks on Tuesday with the goal of agreeing on a “basic framework” in the last scheduled session of the year. Starbucks and Workers United have spent hundreds of hours at the bargaining table this year, and both sides have advanced dozens of tentative contracts, the union said in a press release.
However, hundreds of unfair labor practice lawsuits have yet to be settled, and the union said Starbucks has yet to propose a comprehensive package that would address barista pay and other benefits.
In a statement to CNBC, Starbucks disputed the union’s characterization and said the company is committed to reaching a final structure agreement.
“It is disappointing that the union is considering a strike without focusing on very productive negotiations. Since April, we have scheduled and participated in eight multi-day bargaining sessions in which we have reached thirty meaningful agreements on dozens of issues. Workers United representatives told us that they have many economic problems with was important,” the company said in a statement.
The strike approval shows that relations between the two sides may be cooling again, after a thaw in late February when both sides said they had found a “constructive way forward” despite mediation. Before that point, Starbucks had been battling a union boom that had spread throughout its company-owned locations for more than two years. The company’s efforts to fend off the union movement led to backlash from some consumers and lawmakers, culminating in former CEO Howard Schultz testifying on Capitol Hill.
Starbucks CEO Brian Nichol, who joined the company in September, committed to bargaining in good faith in a letter addressed to the union during his first weeks on the job.
Nicole announced Monday that the company will double its paid parental leave starting in March. However, baristas are said to receive a smaller annual salary increase next year than the previous year due to a sales slowdown at their US locations.
More than 500 company-owned Starbucks have voted to unionize under Workers United since the first election in Buffalo three years ago.
