Red Cup Rebellion Solidarity Surges, New Union Baristas Join Historic ULP Strike Amid Holiday Rush

“As the holiday season ramps up, our movement is growing in power. For every one barista on strike, dozens more allies have shown up in force to back our cause,” Isabel Gonzalez (she/her), 3-year Starbucks barista from California who walked out on ULP strike on Thursday. “Starbucks can’t power the holidays without baristas like me. We’re critical to the entire Starbucks experience. That’s why we won’t stop fighting until Starbucks stops union busting and we win the fair contract we need to help us thrive.”

As the Red Cup Rebellion gains steam across the country, union baristas, elected officials, and allies from across the labor movement are set to rally outside of Starbucks’ headquarters in Seattle Thursday. They’ll spotlight workers’ demands that the coffee giant resolve hundreds of outstanding ULPs, end its historic union busting, and return to the bargaining table with new proposals to improve pay, staffing, and scheduling.

“Union baristas have the power of the people on our side,” Philadelphia barista Silvia Baldwin, who’s been on strike since Red Cup Day, wrote in a powerful column for In These Times. “Organizations representing over 85 million people have backed our demands. Elected leaders—from moderates to progressive firebrands to newly-elected democratic socialists—are standing with us.”

Union stores in the following cities joined the ongoing open-ended ULP strike on Thursday: Little Rock, Ark.; Capitola, Calif.; Oakland, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Urbana, Ill.; Prairie Village, Kan.; Northampton, Mass.; Urbana, Md.; Roseville, Minn.; Affton, Mo.; Kansas City, Mo.; Saint Louis, Mo.; Columbus, Ohio; Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Ontario, Ohio; Upper Arlington, Ohio; Eugene, Ore.; Portland, Ore.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Columbia, S.C.; West Valley City, Utah; North Chesterfield, Va.; Bellingham, Wash.; Olympia, Wash.; Seattle, Wash.; Walla Walla, Wash.; and Cheyenne, Wyo.

To read more on union baristas’ demands and a complete list of cities where workers are striking, see this Interested Parties Memo from Workers United: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1U3XneCeP5w4whDoHF4Vanv5Ju9r09N5M1fiIMnNvMFA/

For a map of public picket lines and actions near you, visit NoContractNoCoffee.org.

Historic ULP Strike Gathers Force As Elected Officials Across Country Put Their Weight Behind Union Baristas

Across the country, elected officials continue to put their weight behind striking union baristas. In just the past week, baristas were joined on the strike lines and beyond by elected officials including U.S. Senators Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), New York Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).

The formidable show of solidarity for baristas’ Red Cup Rebellion strengthened on Wednesday as more than 180 state and local elected officials sent a letter to Starbucks, urging the company to heed its union baristas’ demands for a fair contract. The signers came from over 25 states and included the Attorneys General of Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington.

They write: “We stand firmly with the baristas and we are deeply troubled by reports of renewed union busting that hinder Starbucks workers’ statutory and constitutional right to organize. Many of these workers are our constituents.”

Letter signer Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda of King County Washington added, “I’m proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with striking Starbucks baristas fighting for respect and dignity at work. It is outrageous that these workers are still waiting for a fair first contract while facing union-busting tactics meant to silence them. Many of these baristas are our constituents, and their courage deserves to be met with good-faith bargaining. Starbucks must reverse course, resolve its existing labor disputes and negotiate a fair contract now.”

You can read the full letter to Starbucks from state and local elected officials HERE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p4oWfhUHJKGR21TDeBB8CxYt4HtEm_bN/

The Rise of the Red Cup Rebellion: Allies Show Up In Full Force At Baristas’ Escalations Across the Nation As Solidarity Grows

Baristas’ historic ULP strike expansion builds on escalations that have taken the nation by storm this week, beginning with protests at two of Starbucks’ largest distribution centers in York, Penn. and Minden, Nev. that led dozens of delivery trucks to turn away from the picket line as baristas and their allies rallied to condemn Starbucks’ serious and unresolved labor violations. On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin, Workers United President Lynne Fox and allies from across the labor movement joined striking baristas on the picket line in Los Angeles, raising their voices to demand Starbucks heed baristas’ demands for the company to end union-busting finalize a fair union contract.

“Starbucks, the company, is behaving irrationally,” SAG-AFTRA President Astin said to the crowd on Tuesday. “As more and more stores go union, the company’s shortsightedness will become glaring and indefensible. It will become clear that Starbucks management is creating structural fragility. This strike is not a disruption. This strike is a demand for stability. Investors, baristas and customers all want the same thing – stability, predictability.”

Hundreds of thousands of supporters have committed to not cross baristas’ growing picket lines until Starbucks ends union-busting and returns to the bargaining table with new proposals to improve pay, staffing, and scheduling for the thousands of union baristas powering the company’s profits. Amid the growing solidarity, allies from across the labor movement and nation continue to show up in force on picket lines to back striking baristas’ demands – from NAACP leaders in St. Louis to teachers in Arlington, Va. to college students in Minden, Nev.

One month after baristas began their nationwide ULP strike, more than 225,000 people have signed the “No Contract, No Coffee” pledge to not buy Starbucks until union baristas secure a fair contract. More than 225 baristas have joined Workers United, winning union elections at nine stores as the nationwide movement of Starbucks baristas uniting to win respect and a voice on the job gains momentum.


https://sbworkersunited.org/red-cup-rebellion-solidarity-surges-new-union-baristas-join-historic-ulp-strike-amid-holiday-rush/