Starbucks baristas in Twin Cities join nationwide strike
ST. ANTHONY, Minn. — Twin Cities Starbucks baristas joined a nationwide strike Tuesday afternoon.
Baristas picketing outside the store on Silverlake Road in St. Anthony are asking for increased wages.
"We're trying to get what is a fair wage in a society where the cost of living is going up drastically, and when you get companies like Starbucks that make billions of dollars in revenue and profit, and you have things where you have a sign-on bonus for a new CEO, who was the CEO at Chipotle, their signing bonus is over $100 million and we don't see any of that," said Anton Olson, a shift supervisor at the Starbucks in St. Anthony. "It feels unfair."
Workers at seven other Minnesota locations were expected to strike Tuesday.
Workers United, the union representing workers at 525 Starbucks stores across the country, says over 5,000 workers at more than 300 stores were expected to walk off the job Tuesday. However, Starbucks says about 170 locations did not open as planned on Christmas Eve.
The union says the unfair labor practice strike started Friday, with walkouts in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle.
Starbucks said in a statement that Workers United "chose to walk away from bargaining last week."
The Seattle-based company says the union is calling for an immediate 64% minimum wage increase and a 77% increase over three years.
"This is not sustainable," Starbucks said.
