Starbucks Workers United calls for nationwide boycott

Coinciding with the annual release of Starbucks’ fall menu – including its popular pumpkin spice latte (which generated $2 billion for the company in its first decade) – the Starbucks Workers United union has called on all working people to show solidarity by boycotting the coffee chain.

Starbucks has refused to finalize a union contract and has been accused of hundreds of labor violations.

The unionizing effort started in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2021 and has spread to more than 700 stores across the country, representing about 12,000 workers.

“What we’re fighting for is simple: a minimum $17 per hour wage, enough hours to live on, better staffing in our stores, and basic workplace protections,” said Starbucks Workers United (SWU). “Every year, our living costs rise, but our wages don’t keep up—a growing pressure many American workers are feeling as corporate greed accelerates unchecked in our country.”

While the company “fuels working people” across the country every day, the union added, “it’s failing the workers who fuel its profits” – which rose to $25.5 billion last year.

The National Labor Relations Board and its judges “have found that Starbucks committed hundreds of labor violations, and there are currently more than 550 unresolved Unfair Labor Practice charges still pending against the company,” the union continued.

“Starbucks has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of care for the workers who fuel the company’s profits by wasting millions of dollars on AI and technology that doesn’t work, launching countless gimmicky drinks designed to distract from real problems, and inventing pointless policies that do nothing but make our jobs harder,” said SWU. “This ongoing, irrational behavior by Starbucks and its refusal to settle a fair union contract with workers leaves us with no other choice than to call for a boycott. We know when working people stand up together, we win.”

The boycott is being backed by the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

“America’s unions are proud to endorse [Starbucks Workers United]’s boycott of stand-alone corporate Starbucks stores,” the AFL-CIO said in a statement. “Workers are fed up with unchecked corporate greed, and we’re standing with them in their fight for a fair contract.”

In West-Central Illinois, coffee shops seem to pop up faster than morel mushrooms in May, so there are plenty of alternatives to crossing a picket line, physical or not. Beyond big outfits such as Dunkin’ and Panera, here are some of the many choices to patronize during the boycott:

METRO PEORIA: Ardor, BrightSide Kitchen, Café Santa Rosa, CxT, Dar Al-Coffee, Intuition, Leaves & Beans, Regulator, Reverence Coffee, Scooter’s, Sweet Beans, and Zion Coffee Bar;

Also, a few miles away are: the Black Maple in Elmwood and Farmington, Coffee Can in Hanna City, Kickabrew in Kickapoo, Nighthawks in Elmwood;

CANTON: Black Maple and Cup of Canton;

GALESBURG: Innkeeper’s and Orange Cup Java Station;

MACOMB: Bold Brew and Sullivan Taylor;

MONMOUTH: Einstein Brothers and Martin House;

QUINCY: Frericks Coffee House and Roost Coffee.