LOS ANGELES—Starbucks workers in Southern California expanded a strike on Tuesday against the coffee giant with plans that include picketing at a store in the Cypress Park area of Los Angeles.
Monday’s actions marked the fourth day of nationwide walkoffs at various locations around the country, forcing more than 60 stores to temporarily close. The walkoffs began Dec. 20, with a location at Alameda Avenue and Shelton Street in Burbank, Calif., among the stores shut down.
Tuesday’s actions are expected to be the most widespread yet, with more than 5,000 workers at more than 300 stores nationwide, the union said. In Los Angeles, workers at the Starbucks at 3242 N. Figueroa St. in the Cypress Park area are picketing, according to the union.
The final days before Christmas are traditionally one of Starbucks’ busiest customer traffic times of the year, according to the union.
“The holiday season should be magical at Starbucks, but for too many of us, there’s a darker side to the peppermint mochas and gingerbread lattes,” Arloa Fluhr, a bargaining delegate, said in a statement.
“I’m a mom of three, including my daughter who is diabetic. I know what it’s like to panic because my hours were slashed and I won’t be able to pay my bills and could lose access to health care, including my daughter’s insulin.”
Since the weekend, union baristas have walked off the job in Los Angeles, as well as New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago, Columbus, Denver, Pittsburgh, and Seattle.
A company representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment related to Monday’s action.
“The few disruptions we have experienced this week have had no significant impact to our store operations. Only a small handful of our U.S. stores have been impacted,” a Starbucks representative told City News Service Dec. 21.
“We respect our partners’ right to engage in lawful strike activity, and we appreciate the thousands of partners across the country who are continuing to support each other and deliver the Starbucks experience for our customers,” the company added.
The union is accusing Starbucks of failing to honor earlier commitments to improve collective bargaining and resolve legal disputes. Starbucks Workers United says the company proposed an economic package with no new wage increases for union baristas and a guarantee of only 1.5 percent in future years, amounting to less than 50 cents an hour.
“Nobody wants to strike. It’s a last resort, but Starbucks has broken its promise to thousands of baristas and left us with no choice,” Fatemeh Alhadjaboodi, a bargaining delegate, said in a statement. “In a year when Starbucks invested so many millions in top executive talent, it has failed to present the baristas who make its company run with a viable economic proposal.”
Starbucks maintains it is committed to reaching an agreement and is willing to return to the bargaining table, claiming the union was the one to cut off negotiations.
“It is disappointing they didn’t return to the table given the progress we’ve made to date. Since April we’ve held more than nine bargaining sessions over 20 days,” according to a statement from the company. “We’ve reached over thirty (30) meaningful agreements on hundreds of topics Workers United delegates told us were important to them, including many economic issues.”
The company said it offers an average wage of more than $18 an hour and provides what it calls best-in-class benefits, including health care, free college tuition, paid family leave, and stock grants.
Meanwhile, baristas at the Starbucks on Sunset Boulevard and La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles filed a petition Dec. 20 with the National Labor Relations Board for a union election, seeking to join more than 520 Starbucks locations across the country where baristas are unionized.
