Starbucks workers’ union goes on strike in US cities

Some members of the workers’ union representing more than 10,000 baristas at Starbucks in the United States have begun a five-day strike at stores in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle, citing unresolved issues over wages, staffing and schedules.

The strike, which started on Friday, is the latest in a series of labour actions in the US that have picked up pace across service industries following a period when workers of automotive, aerospace and rail manufacturers won substantial concessions from employers.

The Starbucks Workers United Union, which represents employees at 525 stores across the US, said late on Thursday that walkouts would escalate daily and could reach “hundreds of stores” nationwide by Christmas Eve.

“It’s estimated that 10 stores out of 10,000 company-operated stores did not open today,” Starbucks said, adding that there was no significant impact on store operations on Friday.

About 20 people joined a picket line at a Starbucks location on Chicago’s north side, buffeted by snow and wind, but cheering in response to the honking horns of passing cars.

A few confused customers tried to walk into the closed store before strikers began chanting, but union member Shep Searl said the reaction had been mostly positive.

Searl said 100 percent of the unionised workers at the Starbucks location in Chicago’s Edgewater neighbourhood were participating in the strike and, according to the workers, they have been subject to numerous unfair labour practices including write-ups, “captive-audience” meetings and firings. (A captive-audience meeting is a mandatory meeting organised by a firm where employees are interested in unionising and where it brings in labour relations consultants to talk about the pros and cons of unionising.)

The union members said they made about $21 an hour and added that this “would have been a great wage in 2013”.

It is an inadequate wage, the baristas said, given inflation and the high cost of living in a large city, especially since they rarely got 40-hour work weeks.