Starbucks workers walk out on Red Cup Day in Philly and beyond

Thousands of workers at more than 200 U.S. Starbucks stores walked off the job Thursday in what organizers said was the largest strike yet in the two-year-old effort to unionize the company’s stores.

The Workers United union chose Starbucks’ annual Red Cup Day to stage the walkout since it’s usually one of the busiest days of the year. Starbucks expected to give away thousands of reusable cups Thursday to customers who order holiday drinks.

The union said it expected more than 5,000 workers to take part in its “Red Cup Rebellion.” Around 30 stores also staged walkouts on Wednesday.

According to local union representatives, at least six locations in the Philadelphia participated.

Some Philadelphia Starbucks baristas also participated in a one-day strike last year on Red Cup Day. Since then, more locations in Philadelphia and across the United States have unionized.

Lydia Fernandez, a barista at the 20th and Market Streets store, said union members are expecting more nonemployee members of the community to get involved in what Starbucks Workers United calls the “Red Cup Rebellion” this year.

“We’re hoping people stop by their local Starbucks, see what’s going on, and just get engaged,” Fernandez said.

“We are aware that Workers United has publicized a day of action at a small subset of our U.S. stores,” said Starbucks spokesperson Andrew Trull. “We remain committed to working with all partners, side-by-side, to elevate the everyday, and we hope that Workers United’s priorities will shift to include the shared success of our partners and negotiating contracts for those they represent.”

With more than 360 Starbucks stores and 9,000 workers in their membership, Workers United has accused Starbucks of refusing to bargain a contract in good faith, and has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

Trull, of Starbucks, said, “Workers United hasn’t agreed to meet to progress contract bargaining in more than four months.”

While the bargaining process has been a frequent topic of discussion by the union, the Red Cup Day strikes are focused on one of the specific pain points union members are hoping to address as part of a contract with the company: staffing levels.

“One of the main issues we have been talking about forever and anyone at Starbucks can tell you about is understaffing,” said Silvia Baldwin, who works at the Starbucks at 34th and Walnut Streets.

That’s a problem on an average day, Baldwin said, and when the store is pushing special promotions it becomes a much bigger issue.

“You could have hundreds of people in a 10-minute period ordering through their phones when they see this promotion,” she said. For employees, that means a few baristas trying to prepare all of those orders in a short time, and for customers, it can mean long waits and “a terrible experience,” Baldwin added.

Red Cup Day is the busiest promotional day of the year at Starbucks locations, union members said, but it’s not the only one. Other promotions include “Double Star Days” and “Thurs-yays.” Union members say Starbucks does not appropriately staff stores to handle demand created by promotions.

“We’ve just been exhausted from the promotional events,” Fernandez said.

Trull said store managers are able to adjust staffing as needed, and “are often provided additional labor hours to augment staffing in support of planned promotional days.”

Starbucks is among many coffee shops in Philadelphia where workers are organizing around labor issues. Locally owned stores such as Reanimator, Elixr Coffee, and Ultimo Coffee have also unionized with Workers United in recent years, and have faced some challenges in their efforts to reach a first contract.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.