Starbucks marchers walk through the enduring intersection of Hollywood and Highland throughout the annual Pride Parade in Los Angeles, June 12, 2022.
David Mcnew | Getty Images
Hitting some organized United States Starbucks The stores opened Friday in Seattle, after the coffee giant and the union representing baristas publicly clashed over claims the corporate didn’t allow pride month decorations at coffee shops.
The union, Starbucks Workers United, said greater than 150 stores representing nearly 3,500 workers had pledged to hitch strikes next week. Greater than two dozen additional stores are voting to permit the strike, and that number could rise to just about 200 by the top of the week, the union said.
Last week, the union claimed dozens of U.S. stores were stopping employees from decorating for Pride Month, accusations that suggested a wave of backlash against LGBTQ+ inclusion reached a perceived liberal stronghold in corporate America. Starbucks said it has not modified its store decoration guidelines.
“We would like to be clear – Starbucks has been and will proceed to be a frontrunner in supporting the LGBTQIA2+ community and we will not waver in that commitment!” Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan and executive vice chairman and president for North America Sara Trilling said in a press release Friday.
“Despite today’s public comment, none of our policies have modified close to our in-store experiences, our company culture and the advantages we provide our partners. We proceed to encourage our store leaders to rejoice with their communities, including for US Pride Month in June as all the time.” The directors said they “strongly disapprove of any individual or group that seeks to take advantage of our partners’ cultural and heritage celebrations to cause harm or blatantly disseminate disinformation for their very own ends.”
In response to strike declarations, the corporate previously said: “Workers United continues to spread false details about our advantages, policies and negotiating efforts – a tactic used to seemingly divide our partners and distract from their over 200 shops’ failure to answer negotiating sessions.”
IN entry on your websiteStarbucks shared a June 14 letter from its vice chairman of partner resources, May Jensen, to Workers United president Lynne Fox, demanding that the union “stop knowingly misleading partners.”
Protesters in Seattle join Starbucks Workers United’s strike over an alleged change in policy regarding Pride decorations in stores. Starbucks says it hasn’t modified its policy and is encouraging stores to rejoice consistent with the corporate’s safety and security guidelines, while the union accuses workers in 22 states of not with the ability to decorate.
Rob Weller | CNBC
Workers United claimed that in no less than 22 states workers were unable to brighten, pointing to social media accounts where workers documented their claims. The union said it had filed an unfair labor practice allegation against Starbucks over the alleged policy change. Some strikes in the approaching days are linked to this claim.
Not all stores that will go on strike have had issues with Pride’s décor.
Parker Davis, a 21-year-old barista from San Antonio, Texas, works at a store that has had no dispute over Pride’s decor but will be a part of the strikes.
“There may be a big percentage of partners in my store who’re a part of the LGBTQ community and feel that Starbucks’ ongoing efforts to scale back or remove pride decorations simply don’t make sense in comparison with what the corporate has done up to now,” Davies said.
Davis told CNBC he expected some picketing, but said it wasn’t clear if the shop can be allowed to open throughout the strike.
Pride Month’s public decoration exchange features major brands including Objective AND constructing light were focused on supporting the LGBTQ+ community. In each of those cases, the businesses faced backlash from conservative consumers towards transgender partnerships or merchandise – after which faced backlash from more permissive customers to perceived deference to critics.
In Oklahoma, workers were told decoration restrictions were attributable to safety concerns following the recent attacks on Goal stores, the union said.
Protesters in Seattle join Starbucks Workers United’s strike over an alleged change in policy regarding Pride decorations in stores. Starbucks says it hasn’t modified its policy and is encouraging stores to rejoice consistent with the corporate’s safety and security guidelines, while the union accuses workers in 22 states of not with the ability to decorate.
Rob Weller | CNBC
Starbucks employees are also on strike over allegations that the coffee shop chain is slow to barter deals.
“Good faith negotiations seem like either side are making proposals and trying to fulfill in the center – Starbucks doesn’t want to do this,” Workers United said in a press release. “Despite our non-economic proposals for greater than 8 months and our economic proposals for greater than a month, Starbucks has not tentatively agreed to a single line of a single proposal or submitted a single counterproposal. What Starbucks is doing shouldn’t be haggling, it’s standing still.”
The strike “is very important to me since it sends a message that we will not be going to face by while Starbucks continues to delay contract negotiations and continues to take part in union busting,” Davis said.
For its part, Starbucks maintains that Workers United has only responded to 1 / 4 of the greater than 450 negotiating sessions Starbucks has thus far proposed to individual stores across the country, and said it’s committed to advancing negotiations towards a primary deal.
Protesters in Seattle join Starbucks Workers United’s strike over an alleged change in policy regarding Pride decorations in stores. Starbucks says it hasn’t modified its policy and is encouraging stores to rejoice consistent with the corporate’s safety and security guidelines, while the union accuses workers in 22 states of not with the ability to decorate.
Rob Weller | CNBC
The smoking room, where the strikes began on Friday, had no disputes over the Pride decorations, but can also be on strike in solidarity. About two dozen union workers protested outside the shop throughout the day. The store closed after a brief reopening, a Starbucks spokesperson said.
“The roaster wants to indicate solidarity with all employees who’ve been discriminated against throughout the company,” Mari Cosgrove, a 28-year-old barista from Seattle, told CNBC.
“Truthfully, it looks like an attack when these flags are taken down,” Cosgrove said. “Partners in these stores really appreciate being seen and feeling like this can be a community space for them. Starbucks really prides itself on being ranked third, including for its employees.”
Greater than 300 company-owned stores have voted to hitch the union because the first filing in August 2021, but Starbucks and Workers United have yet to agree on a deal.
Starbucks has greater than 9,000 corporate locations in america
— Amelia Lucas of CNBC contributed to this report.