Thousands of workers at around 200 Starbucks coffee chain stores in the US went on strike on Thursday
Photo. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Thousands of workers at about 200 Starbucks coffee chain stores in the U.S. went on strike Thursday, demanding labor contracts that would set conditions on wages, benefits and layoffs.
Workers in at least 30 cities across the country, from New York to Philadelphia, walked off the job a day early and will remain on strike until Thursday, the Starbucks Workers United union that represents them announced.
The drive, the largest in the giant's history, coincides with Starbucks' “Red Cup” day, when the company distributes reusable cups to customers in the run-up to Christmas. The union representing the strikers said promotions like this are forcing employees to handle more orders than usual, but without increasing staffing.
In early November, Starbucks, the world's largest coffee chain, promised to raise hourly pay for U.S. retail workers by at least 3 percent starting in 2024, an offer workers rejected given the rise in Starbucks' fourth-quarter earnings. by 11%, but also the recent increases won by auto workers following their recent strikes.
The Starbucks strike, dubbed the “Red Cup Rebellion” by the US media, lasted only one day, unlike recent strikes by the United Auto Workers union at the country's three unionized automakers or strikes by the SAG-AFTRA actors' union. and the Writers Guild of America, which has frozen production on several movies and TV shows for months.
It is the latest development, however, in an ongoing dispute between the company and unionists beyond 2021 , when workers at a store in Buffalo voted to form a union. It has since represented more than 9,000 workers at about 360 Starbucks stores across the country, but workers and employers have yet to reach a contract agreement at any of the stores, with administrative law judges finding the company has repeatedly violated labor law. legislation.
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