By Nora Mishanec,Breaking & Enterprise Reporter Updated Dec 24, 2024 (SFChronicle.com)
Starbucks workers in Petaluma joined a nationwide strike organized by the workers’ union, Starbucks Workers United.Demian Bulwa/The Chronicle
Employees at about a dozen Starbucks stores across the Bay Area walked off the job Tuesday as part of a Christmas Eve strike at locations across the U.S. to highlight what their union said are low wages, unpredictable scheduling and other unfair labor practices.
The strike, which began Friday, had expanded to over 300 of the chain’s 10,000 company-operated U.S. stores as of Tuesday morning, with thousands of unionized employees participating in the planned work stoppage, according to the workers union, Starbucks Workers United. In an Instagram post, the union said that the strike is the largest carried out at the coffee chain since organizing began four years ago.
Of the hundreds of Starbucks stores in the Bay Area, 16 are unionized under Starbucks Workers United, including locations in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset and Castro neighborhoods. Other locations include two Oakland stores, a Berkeley store and a Petaluma store. A union representative estimated that “about a dozen” Bay Area stores participated in the strike.
In downtown Petaluma on Tuesday morning, workers picketed outside the store holding signs that read “No contract, no coffee” and “Skeleton crews won’t do.”
The union said they hoped to send a message to what they characterized as the chain’s “unresponsive management.”
“We’re fighting for a living wage, fair scheduling, and accessible benefits at a time when Starbucks seems to prefer investing in CEO Brian Niccol’s $113 million compensation package,” the union said in a statement.
Representatives for Starbucks said around 170 of its 10,000 stores “did not open as planned” on Christmas Eve. Sara Kelly, an executive vice president, said the strike was expected to have “very limited impact” on the company’s overall operations.
The company called union demands “unsustainable” and said “no other retailer” can match the “comprehensive pay and benefits package” it offers employees, which includes “health care, free college tuition, paid family leave and company stock grants.”
Reach Nora Mishanec: nora.mishanec@sfchronicle.com
Dec 24, 2024
BREAKING & ENTERPRISE REPORTER
Nora Mishanec is a San Francisco Chronicle breaking news and enterprise reporter. She joined the paper in 2020 as a Hearst fellow and returned in 2022 after a stint at The Houston Chronicle.
