About 2,000 Starbucks employees strike at more than 100 US stores

More than 2,000 employees at 112 Starbucks locations are expected to go on a one-day strike on Thursday, according to the union that has organized the stores since last year.

The union says it is on strike to protest retaliation taken against union supporters across the country. He is also protesting what he characterizes as the company’s refusal to negotiate a first labor agreement with the union. There are 264 stores that voted in favor of union representation. But no contracts have yet been negotiated, even at stores that voted nearly a year ago.

“This is to show them we’re not kidding,” said Tyler Keeling, a 26-year-old union worker who has worked at a Starbucks store in Lakewood, Calif. — near Los Angeles — for the past six years. “We ended up with their anti-union retaliation and them walking away from the negotiation.”

Keeling and other union supporters say it was up to each individual store whether or not to participate in the national strike. Many stores have already held brief strikes over specific issues. But this is the first national action.

“There’s a lot of fear before a store decides to go on strike,” said Michelle Eisen, an organizer at the first Starbucks store to vote for the union last December. “Starbucks has retaliated against union leaders across the country. But despite that fear, more than 2,000 workers across the country are on strike today and standing up for each other.”

When Keeling’s store went on a one-day strike in August, Starbucks workers from nearby nonunion stores joined the picket, he said, and some customers brought food and drink for the strikers.

It is unclear how many of the stores affected by Thursday’s action will be able to remain open during the strike.

The protest takes place on “Red Cup” day at Starbucks, when reusable holiday cups are given out to certain drink purchases that entitle you to extra discounts and bonus points on future purchases.

“Culturally Red Cup Day is an important day at Starbucks. People go crazy about it,” Keeling said. He said that holding the strike on a day with a large volume of customers is a great way to draw attention to anti-union activities.

The union is calling its strike the “Red Cup Rebellion” and is handing out red Starbucks workers union cups to customers.

The company was sought by CNN, but has not yet manifested itself. On another occasion, however, he denied retaliating against any employee for his support of the union and blamed the union for the lack of progress at the negotiating table.

Starbucks has defended the firings of union supporters that occurred as a proper application of rules that apply to all its employees, which it refers to as “partners”.

“Interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies and procedures that apply to all partners,” Starbucks said in a previous statement.

But this week, the National Board of Labor Relations — which oversees union representation votes — filed in federal court for a national cease-and-desist order to prevent Starbucks from retaliating against union supporters.

The NLRB’s lawsuit said there was a “number and pattern of unfair labor practices by Starbucks… particularly firings” against union supporters at its stores.