College students join Starbucks baristas in nationwide rally for better contracts

Starbucks baristas, students, elected officials, and other allies gathered at over 40 college campuses across the United States on Thursday, 12 November. The demonstrations support the Starbucks Workers United boycott campaign as the union approaches five years of deadlock with the company over contract negotiations.

The union is seeking improved pay and stronger staffing levels, specifically requesting a minimum wage of $17 an hour for baristas and a minimum of three workers per store. Starbucks Workers United has urged the public to boycott the coffee chain until its first contract is reached.

More than 700 Starbucks stores have voted to unionize, representing over 12,000 baristas. It typically takes a new labor union more than 450 days to negotiate and reach an initial contract. However, it has been nearly five years since the first Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, voted to unionize in December 2021.

The union began focusing on college campuses in 2023, calling on institutions to cancel their contracts with Starbucks in protest of the company’s response to union-organizing efforts. In response, Cornell University and Pomona College did not renew their contracts with the company, while UCLA stopped offering Starbucks products in their cafes. Rallies and events are taking place at private and public universities across the country, including the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, and the University of Washington.

The union push comes ahead of the company’s busy holiday season, including Starbucks’ Red Cup Day on 17 November, when customers receive a reusable holiday cup. Andrew Trinklein, a barista participating in an event at the University of Texas at Austin, stated that Starbucks has been fueling the working class for decades but is failing the workers who fuel its profits. He said the group is trying to push for support from college campus students in joining the boycott.

Trinklein noted that his store recently unionized and expressed shock at how the company hired pricey union avoidance consultants to deter workers from unionizing. Starbucks has reportedly spent tens of millions of dollars related to union avoidance, though it has not disclosed the full costs relating to its union-organizing efforts. Trinklein emphasized that employees are currently employed at-will, meaning they have no just-cause job security protections. He explained that it is a toss-up whether they have a job tomorrow, citing the company’s policy requiring employees to write friendly messages on cups for customers. He said that with the proposed contract, employees would have protections from such arbitrary firings.

Efforts to pressure Starbucks to negotiate were temporarily paused when the union and the company reached an agreement on a path forward in February 2024. However, negotiations broke down shortly after Brian Niccol took over as Starbucks CEO. Niccol previously served as CEO of Chipotle from 2018 to 2024. Under his tenure at Chipotle, the company agreed to pay $240,000 to former workers as part of a settlement over a store closing in Maine after it unionized. The National Labor Relations Board said the closing was illegal, although Chipotle has denied wrongdoing. In recent years, Starbucks has been found guilty of violating federal labor law by the NLRB in several cases regarding its responses to union-organizing efforts.

In a statement, a Starbucks spokesperson said that Workers United represents approximately 5% of US partners and that the union believes actions like these divert attention from the work at the bargaining table. The spokesperson added that partners and coffeehouses are focused on bringing the joy of the holidays to life for customers. Based on experience with prior similar actions, the company does not expect any meaningful disruption and looks forward to serving customers through the holidays.

The spokesperson noted that according to independent research, Starbucks offers the best overall pay and benefits in the industry. This package is worth on average more than $30 per hour and includes comprehensive healthcare, 100% upfront tuition coverage, company stock, and up to 18 weeks of paid parental leave for partners working as little as 20 hours a week. The spokesperson said this is why turnover is among the industry’s lowest and nearly 3 million people applied to wear the green apron last year.