Baristas rally at Starbucks HQ to protest store closures

Starbucks workers and allies rallied outside the company’s headquarters on Monday, protesting abrupt store closures they say reflect the company’s disregard for its hometown employees.

Why it matters: The closures — which included two of Seattle’s most recognizable Starbucks locations — are the latest flashpoint in a nationwide labor battle between the coffee giant and its unionized baristas.

Catch up quick: Starbucks recently shuttered the Capitol Hill Reserve Roastery and SoDo Reserve locations overnight.

  • Some workers said they learned of the closures from social media or a brief pre-recorded message, according to Starbucks Workers United.
  • The union says the company is not reassigning jobless workers to nearby stores as in the past.
  • “It’s crazy to wake up and learn from social media that you lost your job before your company tells you,” Trent Lytle-Hogue, a former Roastery barista, said in a statement.

By the numbers: Starbucks said last month it would close stores and lay off 900 corporate employees in a $1 billion restructuring plan…

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