The workers union representing Starbucks baristas across the country announced members in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle will go on strike in the days leading up to Christmas.
Workers United, which has unionized more than 525 U.S. Starbucks locations, said in a press release Thursday that unfair labor practices and stalled negotiations with the company are the catalyst behind the holiday season strike.
The union says five days of escalating strikes will begin Friday and continue until Dec. 24 in “three of the company’s priority markets” during what it called the company’s busiest days of the year.
During the strike period, the walkouts “are expected to spread each day and ultimately reach hundreds of stores from coast to coast by Christmas Eve” unless the company honors a February commitment made with the union.
In February 2024, Workers United and Starbucks announced they would work on a “foundational framework” to reach a collective bargaining agreement for stores, something the union says has not come to fruition.