“There is an unfair labor practice strike going on right now,” said Aharon Williams, the union delegate for the Starbucks at Lakeside Drive and McCarran Boulevard, through a bullhorn to customers as they attempted to order coffee at the drive-through speaker on Tuesday, Dec. 23.
The store had been closed from 7 a.m. to noon each day for a week—hours when the busy store is normally serving customers. Of its 16 employees, the 13 who are members of the union Starbucks Workers United had been participating in the Red Cup Rebellion. More than 3,800 union baristas across the nation have been on an open-ended strike since Nov. 13 to demand better staffing, increased pay and the resolution of a slew of labor disputes.
On Tuesday morning, several baristas crossed the picket line and returned to work. Williams and another barista, Julia Black, remained on strike and began picketing at 7 a.m…