Maryland Starbucks employees join nationwide "Red Cup Rebellion" strike on Red Cup Day
BALTIMORE -- A local Starbucks in Ellicott City temporarily closed Thursday as thousands of Starbucks baristas, including some in Maryland, went on strike on the company's promotional Red Cup Day.
Because of the significance of the day, one where customers are offered free reusable red cups in a holiday theme, Starbucks employees are referring to the strike as the "Red Cup Rebellion."
WJZ was at a Starbucks in Ellicott City where employees walked out and held up signs in protest.
"At stores where partners may choose to participate in publicized protest activities, we will make every effort to staff the store with partners interested and willing to work," Starbucks said in a statement. "Should local operators choose to close a store due to staffing constraints, we plan to offer partners wanting to work the opportunity to pick up shifts at other nearby stores. Partners choosing to participate in protest activities also have the right to submit their unconditional return to work at any time."
The Starbucks Workers Union is organizing this movement to pressure the coffee giant to negotiate what it calls a "fair first" union contract that addresses understaffing woes.
"We are working really hard out here and a lot of us can barely pay our rent, all that for some coffee," Ellicott City barista Sam Petty said. "Usually, if there is a problem, we're kind of just stuck in the water by ourselves."
They argue that the coffee giant is not negotiating with them on addressing staffing, scheduling, wages and other concerns.
"These people work hard. They gave an excellent service. Starbucks is not getting poor, they're getting rich. They can afford to help their employees with a decent wage," Gus, a supporter of the Starbucks union said.
On promotion days like this, the union says it's unfair labor because additional staffing is not arranged to cover the influx.
They argue that the coffee giant is not negotiating with them on addressing their staffing, scheduling, and other concerns.
Starbucks executives wrote in response their store schedules are created three weeks in advance with their partners' availability and preferences at the forefront and our stores are often provided additional labor hours to augment staffing in support of planned promotional days.
"Starbucks is dedicated to partner-centric scheduling and providing partners with hours that align with their individual needs and preferences is a top priority," Starbucks wrote to WJZ. "This is reflected in Starbucks commitment to diligently create work schedules that carefully balance the availability of our partners with the staffing needs of individual stores."
"To achieve this, Starbucks collects a range of preferred, minimum, and maximum hours to build a complete picture of partner preferences and assist store managers in scheduling and managing their workforce," according to Starbucks.
Starbucks executives also stated the union has been unwilling to negotiate and has declined to meet for contract talks for months.
"We call on Workers United to respond to our invitations to bargain contracts for the stores they represent - Workers United hasn't agreed to meet to progress contract bargaining in more than five months," Starbucks stated.
As part of the strike, the union says workers will demand Starbucks turn off mobile ordering on future promotion days.
"Mobile ordering is just one of the many ways customers can order Starbucks, and our retail leaders have the flexibility to staff and operate our stores in alignment with local partner and customer needs," Starbucks continued.
Starbucks executives maintain that the union is unwilling to negotiate and has for months declined to meet for contract talks.
"We are aware that Workers United has publicized a day of action at a small subset of our U.S. stores this week," Starbucks stated in an email. The company hopes the union's "priorities will shift to include the shared success of our partners and working to negotiate union contracts for those they represent," Starbucks noted.
Workers United represents thousands of employees at more than 350 of Starbucks' U.S. stores.
Back in September, the National Labor Relations Board found that Starbucks violated federal law when the chain increased wages and benefits to only non-union employees.
There is no word yet on when the Starbucks in Ellicott City will re-open.
