Starbucks workers are on national 3-day strike

More than 1,000 unionized Starbucks workers at roughly 100 stores across the country — including five in Philadelphia — went on strike today, with plans to continue picketing through the weekend.

In Philadelphia, workers from Starbucks locations at 3400 Civic Center Blvd., 34th and Walnut, and 20th and Market are participating in the strike, which organizers have dubbed the “Double Down Strike.” Two more Philly stores, at 9th and South and 22nd and South streets, joined on Saturday.

The action builds on the union’s last nationwide effort, in November, when more than 110 union stores and 1,000 workers went on strike on Starbucks’ Red Cup Day, when the company gives out free plastic cups for holiday-drink orders.

The first Starbucks store voted to unionize last December in Buffalo. Since then, workers have voted to unionize at more than 250 stores in the U.S., including seven stores in Philadelphia. (Two Philly stores voted against unionization.)

Relations between pro-union workers and Starbucks’ management had been strained pre-pandemic. That dynamic has only intensified as the store unions negotiate for their first contracts. Various complaints have been issued from the National Labor Relations Board, citing hundreds of violations of federal labor law. Starbucks has withheld wages from union baristas, fired union organizers, and company representatives have reportedly walked out of bargaining sessions before they began.

Starbucks has also permanently closed a number of stores this year, including the first Seattle store to unionize. (The chain closed a Philly store at 10th and Chestnut this summer, citing safety issues; it was not a unionized store.)

Jacob Longenecker and Hannah By Nguyen both work at the Starbucks at 3400 Civic Center Blvd., better known as the Penn Medicine Starbucks. Friday was the first time the store — which unionized in May, in a 10-1 vote — participated in a union action. Workers formed a picket line outside the store starting at 7 a.m., after which management closed the store for the weekend. The picket lines will travel across the city to other Starbucks locations over the weekend.

Longenecker noted a couple of would-be customers who were upset they’d have to look elsewhere for their caffeine fix, but he said the reception to the union workers’ demonstration was otherwise overwhelmingly positive.

“It was a lot of support, a lot of people like wishing us luck,” he said. Workers on the picket line distributed fliers about their store and the objectives they hope to achieve in their first contract.

Penn Medicine’s Starbucks has a reputation for being one of the busiest stores on the East Coast, with up to 2,000 customers a day and a new order up to every 12 seconds, according to Nguyen. Two points she and her coworkers hope to address in contract bargaining are enhanced equipment and more robust staffing to meet that demand, in addition to higher wages.

“We care about our customers so much, but it’s really hard to manage all this work,” she said. “So it was really nice for all of us to kind of come together and share our feelings about this and try to work toward a future Starbucks that respects its employees and customers.”