Gallego to picket with Starbucks baristas in longest strike in company history

Starbucks workers’ unfair labor practice strike is growing, and now US Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) plans to join the picket line.  

The longest-ever nationwide unfair labor practice strike in Starbucks’ company history is underway, and strikes are only growing. It began Nov. 13. Gallego will join the unionized Starbucks workers at a Gilbert picket line on Friday morning. 

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About 3,800 union workers across more than 180 stores in over 130 cities—dubbed the Red Cup Rebellion—are engaging in unfair labor practice strikes protesting Starbucks’ historic union busting, and the corporation’s failure to finalize a fair union contract. 

“Starbucks workers are the ones pouring the coffee, serving the customers, and keeping the doors open—not executives. They’ve earned fair pay, safe shifts, and a contract that actually reflects their worth. Instead, they’ve been met with union-busting tactics from a multibillion-dollar corporation,” Gallego said in a statement. 

More than 100 US Senators and Representatives wrote directly to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, including Gallego and Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), raising concerns about the company’s union-busting practices and failure to finalize a fair first contract with workers. 

Earlier this year, Gallego introduced the Tax Cut for Striking Workers Act, to provide relief for striking workers by excluding compensation a worker receives from a union’s strike fund from a taxpayer’s gross income.

Last year, Starbucks made over $3.6 billion in profit and paid out nearly $5 billion in stock buybacks and dividends. The corporation is one of the biggest violators of labor law in modern history, and it holds the biggest CEO-to-worker pay gap in the country. Last year, Niccol received $96 million in pay, more than 6,000 times the median worker’s pay. 

Workers United, the union representing Starbucks workers, and Starbucks corporate are not currently in contract negotiations. The company has not put forth new proposals that address union workers’ demands, which include creating better hours, addressing understaffing issues, and adherence to the scheduling needs of workers, offering higher take-home pay, and resolving hundreds of outstanding unfair labor practice charges for union busting.