On Sunday, Oct. 26, a group of about a dozen protesters assembled outside the Forbes Avenue and Atwood Street Starbucks to “practice picket” against unfair labor practices.
Starbucks Workers United members and supporters gathered outside the Starbucks location to protest for fair contracts and to speak out against union-busting practices. The “practice picket” was aimed to show that Starbucks workers are ready to begin demonstrations for their union rights. Attendees — including some baristas from the Amos Hall and Craig Street Starbucks locations — held signs with statements including “No Contract? No Coffee!”
Starbucks Workers United, the union movement that represents 12,000 baristas and has won elections at over 640 stores, had members present at the rally. SBWU was formed in 2021 and grew in response to widespread short staffing, low wages and other issues at Starbucks stores.
The union recently planned demonstrations for 70 Starbucks across the nation between Oct. 24 and Nov. 2. Voting began on Oct. 24 for SBWU union baristas to authorize a strike on unfair labor practices, although a close date for the voting process has not been set. SBWU said that if approved, the strike will be “open-ended,” with more details to follow.
Unionized partners at the Forbes and Atwood location voted to unionize on May 15, 2024, and were demonstrating in line with the nationwide SBWU-planned rallies. Kye Neilsen, a 32-year-old South Side resident, Starbucks barista and elected strike captain for the store, discussed positive and negative interactions their store has had concerning their union participation.
“I’ve seen huge wins, both from my store and the wider campaign, and I’ve seen a wide variety of union-busting and retaliatory action levied at myself and my fellow baristas,” Neilsen said during a speech at the protest.
According to Neilsen, workers at their store are now permitted to wear union shirts, after management attempted to take corrective action. However, Neilsen also reported that workers have been “cyberstalked” by management when seen at union activities and have had promotional opportunities taken away for union participation.
Despite these experiences, Neilsen expressed their determination when speaking to the crowd about their union experience.
“Having been through all this, I want to make one thing clear — I’m not backing down from this fight, and we’re not backing down from this fight,” Neilsen said.
Jaci Anderson, the director of crisis, issues and reputation at Starbucks, said SBWU “chose to walk away” from negotiations, despite the company’s openness to conversation.
“Workers United only represents around 4% of our partners but chose to walk away from the bargaining table,” Anderson said. “If they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk.”
Kalei Hamilton, a Starbucks barista who joined the union at the same time as Neilsen in May 2024, spoke to the crowd about potential future action for Starbucks stores nationwide — especially as the holiday season approaches.
“We’re ready to turn the red cup season into the red cup rebellion,” Hamilton said. “We are prepared to strike [at] hundreds of stores in order to win a better future at Starbucks. We have already accomplished major changes and have the backing of thousands of allies.”
Supporters at the demonstration handed out sheets of paper for users to pledge not to shop at Starbucks if workers went on strike.
Baristas in the picket line were joined by community members like Daniel Sinclair, a 27 year old from Wilkinsburg who wants to help workers in Pittsburgh get “fair contracts and fair wages.” He doesn’t have a strong connection to Starbucks but still came to Oakland to protest for general union purposes.
“I don’t drink a ton of Starbucks,” Sinclair said. “I visit them sometimes, but it’s the same process everywhere you go, where workers are producing the value, doing the labor and not getting their fair share of the profits.”
Wenyu Liu, an information systems graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University, was inside the Forbes and Atwood Starbucks while the picket was going on outside the store. She was vaguely aware of some issues facing Starbucks employees from Rednote, such as an increased workload from drawing on cups.
While she isn’t going to stop drinking Starbucks completely, Liu supports the union and believes Starbucks should step in more to solve employee issues.
“I do drink Starbucks a lot, but I think this is a problem that Starbucks has to solve,” Liu said. “I might reduce the frequency [I drink from here].”
Ava Anderson, a first-year speech language pathology master’s student at Pitt, was passing by the protest and — despite being unaware of the strike before her encounter on Sunday — will “probably not” shop at Starbucks in the near future after seeing the protest.
“[It] probably turns me off a little bit more to see that, specifically, workers at this Starbucks are being impacted,” Anderson said.
This story was updated on Tuesday, Oct. 28 to include a statement from a Starbucks spokesperson. The Pitt News is dedicated to reporting the most representative news as possible.