Starbucks Strike Expands as Workers Press for Contract
Thousands of baristas at nearly 100 Starbucks locations are on strike this holiday season, picketing for a contract in what organizers have labeled the “Red Cup Rebellion.” The walkout launched on Red Cup Day—one of the company’s biggest sales events of the year—and despite Starbucks’ claims of minimal financial disruption, the union says the strike marks a major escalation.
“How long the rebellion will last is unclear,” organizers said, but Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) leaders insist the company is taking a significant risk by refusing to negotiate.
“This is not the first nationwide strike,” said Diego Franco, a Chicago-based barista and strike captain. “However, this will be the largest strike in the company’s history.”
The movement began in December 2021, when the first successful Starbucks union was formed in Elmwood, near Buffalo, N.Y.—a moment the New York Times called a “big symbolic win for labor.” The company brought back former CEO Howard Schultz in 2022, but the organizing wave accelerated. By 2025, more than 640 Starbucks stores had unionized under SBWU, despite what the National Labor Relations Board described as a “virulent, widespread and well-orchestrated” anti-union campaign. Senator Bernie Sanders called it “the most aggressive and illegal union-busting campaign in the modern history of our country.”
Starbucks emphasizes that its workers are “partners,” but Franco said that commitment evaporates during collective action. “They claim that we are partners until we have serious issues and serious demands… At that point, they choose to stonewall us, they engage in union busting, and they try to drag this out for as long as they can.”
The union is calling on the public to avoid Starbucks entirely—union and non-union stores, grocery products, even vending machines—until the company agrees to negotiate. The slogan is simple: “No Contract, No Coffee.”
The strike occurs at a moment of heightened public frustration toward corporations and billionaires. Workers argue that the contrast between frontline baristas and the company’s new CEO is especially stark. Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol received a $96 million compensation package for four months of work in 2024, plus access to a company jet.
While Starbucks publicly promotes its benefits, workers say many cannot access them due to hours being cut. “Tenured coworkers… find themselves having their hours cut,” Franco said. “I’ve had coworkers get kicked off of [their] healthcare insurance,” and students removed from the tuition assistance program after falling below the weekly hours threshold.
Most baristas work part-time, and many say they are stuck at 19 hours per week—just below the 20-hour minimum needed for benefits—even as customer wait times rise.
SBWU notes that the majority of workers are women, and about half are people of color. Many are young, college-educated, digitally savvy, and outspoken. “The CEO and the C-suite executives are treated so well at the very top, as opposed to the baristas… whose quality of life has diminished over the past year,” Franco said.
The union has gained support from Senator Sanders, New York City leaders, and prominent social media influencers. Organizers point to the retail giant Target as a cautionary tale: a large-scale boycott in 2025 over the company’s decision to drop DEI programs led to significant losses.
Independent cafés are also benefiting, offering alternatives for customers seeking more personalized and community-oriented spaces.
Despite earlier assurances, Starbucks appears to be reversing course on worker-friendly policies. Executive vice president Sara Kelly called the union’s request to pause mobile orders during peak traffic “unreasonable,” while CEO Niccol told investors in July that Starbucks would phase out its mobile-only store concept, saying it lacked “warmth and human connection.”
According to SBWU, progress in contract negotiations slowed when Niccol replaced former CEO Laxman Narasimhan. Workers say new management has imposed stricter dress codes and expectations for “genuine” messages written on customer cups—rules that some employees consider unreasonable.
Inside the industry, experts are puzzled. Branding consultant Kelly O’Keefe told Business Insider, “They need to double down on their own employees — if they win with their own employees, they will win with the customer, and I don’t think they’re there yet.”
As the walkout continues, SBWU says the next move belongs to Starbucks. “The strike will go on until the company decides to bring forth a good economic package,” Franco said. “I would rather stand outside in the cold than work for an employer that’s choosing to disrespect us.”
Sonali Kolhatkar is an award-winning multimedia journalist and the founder and host of “Rising With Sonali.” She is a writing fellow at the Independent Media Institute’s Economy for All project and co-director of the Afghan Women’s Mission.
