Starbucks Workers Go On Strike On Free Red Cup Day

The festive season post covid is seemingly full of rush. This madness is crippling for many while others celebrate. One such place is Starbucks. the workers have had many issues with the management. To show their issues up in public the unionized Starbucks workers across the country in around 100 stores were 

on a strike.

The walkouts coincide with Starbucks’ annual Red Cup Day. To commemorate the festivity Starbucks gives free reusable cups to customers who order a holiday drink. The staff reports that this is one of the busiest days of the year. The issues that workers want to highlight are better pay, higher staffing, and structured scheduling of workers. 

A worker of Starbucks tweeted “As baristas, we love handcrafting these drinks for you and would love to share in the holiday joy of red cup day. Unfortunately, for baristas, the Red Cup Day experience is understaffed stores, crazy rushes we’re not equipped for, and no compensation for our additional work.”

Starbucks Refrains From Union

There is bad blood between Starbucks and the union of workers. Many states have had cases of firing and rehiring of staff who had been active in the union. Tyler Keeling who is working with Starbucks for the past six years said, “This is to show them we’re not playing around. We’re done with their anti-union retaliation and them walking away from bargaining.”

Keeling and other union supporters want the company to sign the first labor union deal which will protect and empower the workers at Starbucks.