Hundreds Protest as Starbucks Holds Investor Day Without Any Retail Workers

Hundreds of workers took to the streets in front of Starbucks’s Seattle headquarters on Tuesday as the company hosted investors for its biennial investor day, in which executives and investors discuss the company’s outlook — an event that has never once included representation from a Starbucks retail worker, the workers’ union says.

Starbucks Workers United is a union of workers who are seeking to be included with other union members. that the companyThey will have a say in the company’s strategy, financial decisions, and a place at its bargaining table for contract negotiation. Delaying. They also asked the company to stop union-busting activities like firing pro-union workers, which it has done nearly 100 times in the course of the union drive.

“Starbucks workers are referred to as partners, which is ironic given that the company abjectly refuses to partner with us,” said Billie Adeosun, who has worked as a barista for seven years, in a statement. “They’ve delayed bargaining. They’ve lied to employees. They have proven that they value their performatively liberal brand and their profits more than the workers who bring in that revenue.”

Just a few miles from the company’s headquarters, workers also went on strike on Tuesday at the company’s flagship roasteryThe union asked the company to stop their union busting and recognize their union. The store, which is one of only three of its type in the U.S.A, voted to unionize on April.

Despite that win being months ago, the union claims that the company continues to delay bargaining with employees. It has apparently delayed so much that the National Labor Relations Board was actually created. chargedThe company was notified about illegal labor practices and complained that it has refused to recognize the union.

The workers’ protest comes just after the company announcedMonday’s announcement by the company was that it will be launching new student loan and savings accounts programs that union members won’t be able to access. The move has been approved by the union. been widely criticizedLabor advocates claim that it was done in order to discourage workers joining unions.

“Starbucks is blatantly disregarding the law to continue their scorched-earth union-busting campaign,” Workers United said in a statement, per Bloomberg. “Starbucks is not only damaging their brand and their business, but irrevocably damaging their credibility as a company.”

Steve Smith, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), was the communications adviser for the company. He stated that this is an indication of how far the company is willing go to antagonize their employees.

“Let’s be crystal clear about one thing: Corporations that have even a modicum of concern about the well-being of their workers would never do anything like this,” Smith wrote. “Union-busting Starbucks executives are squarely in comic-book villain territory now.”

The NLRB has already brought the company to justice for similar practices. This happened earlier in the year. The company announcedIt was only raising wages and benefit for non-union workers. According to the NLRB (which filed a complaint over the move last month, this is illegal, and labor officials are seeking compensation for unionized employees who didn’t receive the benefit and wage increases.

Despite the company’s efforts, the union has been remarkably successful, becoming a Major symbolThe burgeoning labor movement in America. The NLRB reports that the union has won 80% of its elections with nearly 240 unionized stores, and 18 elections are in the pipeline.