Starbucks workers at more than 150 stores plan to go on strike, their union said Friday, as tensions escalated in response to accusations that the company banned Pride-themed decorations at some U.S. stores.
More than 3,000 workers intend to participate in Strike with Pride, a “week-long unfair labor practice strike” asking for Starbucks SBUX, -2.49% to “negotiate a fair contract with union stores,” according to the website for Starbucks Workers United, a union representing workers at the company. The union said the coffee chain’s recent actions have “significantly impacted Starbucks’ LGBTQIA+ workforce.”
Pike Street Roastery in Seattle is kicking off the strike, citing Starbucks’ move “to unilaterally alter or terminate store Pride decoration policies without negotiating with our union,” according to a letter shared by the Starbucks Workers United Twitter account Friday. The group said earlier this month that Starbucks wasn’t allowing Pride-themed decor in some of its stores, though the company has denied those allegations.
See more: Pride-decor bans at Starbucks? Union says it’s seen ‘dozens’ of reports, pushing back against company denial.
“Workers United continues to spread false information about our benefits, policies and negotiation efforts — a tactic used to seemingly divide our partners and deflect from their failure to respond to bargaining sessions for more than 200 stores,” a Starbucks spokesperson said in a statement Friday.
The company previously issued a memo to staffers saying that the union’s accusations around Pride-themed decorations were “simply not true” and that there “has been no change to any guidance on this matter.”
“We will have more clarity for local leaders on in-store displays in the months ahead,” Mark Brown, Starbucks’ senior vice president of talent and inclusion, said in the note issued Tuesday.
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Bill Peters contributed.
