No Contract, No Coffee At Starbucks

by Jon King, Michigan Advance
November 16, 2023

Red Cup Day is one of the busiest, and most profitable days of the year for Starbucks, and for the second year in a row it has become a prime target for workers seeking a union contract with the coffee store chain.

Among those taking part Thursday were workers at several Michigan locations, including at least three stores in the Ann Arbor area, which were among more than 200 across the country where workers walked off the job.

At the Pittsfield Township location just outside Ann Arbor, about a half-dozen workers held an informational picket, including Cara Parker, 42, a shift supervisor and union leader.

Starbucks workers strike in front of their Ann Arbor store at 300 S. Main St., Nov. 17, 2022 | Laina G. Stebbins

“We’re trying to spread information about the understaffing that’s happening at our stores,” she told the Michigan Advance. “They’re adding a promotional half-off on Thursdays and they aren’t giving us more staff, so we’re understaffed and we just want them to negotiate with the union before they do things like that, and this is kind of to bring awareness to that.”

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