Starbucks employees go on strike on one of the company's busiest days
HAMPTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) -- It's Red Cup Day for Starbucks, a promotional day many customers take advantage of, but some employees are using the day to demand change.
Starbucks workers have been brewing up unions across the country and baristas at the Starbucks located along Route 8 in Hampton Township participated in the "Red Cup Rebellion" on Thursday.
Starbucks Workers Union provided "Union Red Cups" to customers at organized locations Thursday and encouraged patrons to show their solidarity with baristas who are picketing.
"It's really a difficult day for workers," said Kaylyn Foody, a shift supervisor from the Hampton location. "We want to show Starbucks that it's not fair that they are not coming to the bargaining table and talking to us and it's not fair we are not being treated with respect and dignity like their mission and values say. We're going on strike to prove to them that even though this may be your busiest day of the year, it can be a day to show them we have the power to flex our flavor."
The Hampton location and several others in the Pittsburgh area have unionized with Workers United, Pennsylvania Joint Board to put an end to low wages and unfair working conditions.
Starbucks store workers are the face of the company, yet they say they are forced into running perpetually understaffed stores and are given inconsistent schedules that they can't rely on. Conditions like these are what led Starbucks partners nationwide to begin unionizing a few years ago.
Many who showed up and got in the Hampton Township location's drive-thru were disappointed to learn that their store was closed, but with some irritation came some empathy.
"I'm in a union myself, so I get it," said customer Andy Brown. "You know, if the conditions are like that, then you have to do something about it. So if that's what it takes to make a change, then I am with it."
