A strike at Starbucks stores across the country reached Minnesota on Christmas Eve. Workers in the metro and a store in Duluth joined hundreds of stores on strike as the union and company work to reach an agreement on wage increases before the end of the year.

Starbucks Workers United said strikes began late last week as negotiations broke down after months of bargaining.

Nine Minnesota stores reportedly joined the strike on Tuesday. Eight of those locations are in the metro, and the majority of them were closed as of mid-day after baristas walked out.

Signs on the door and on the drive-thru menu at the Fairview Avenue location in Roseville read “temporarily closed” as unionized workers picketed in the parking lot.

“Everybody walked out,” said barista Alex Rivers.

“They’re wanting us to do more with less. I mean, we’re understaffed. I mean longer lines, less people on the floor… This is a last resort. They forced us out here. We felt we had no choice.”

More than 300 stores are on strike nationwide, and it’s the largest strike in Starbucks history, according to the union.

Still, those on strike represent a fraction of the company’s more than 10,000 coffee shops. 98% of the company’s stores remained open for business on Tuesday, according to a statement from a Starbucks spokesperson.

Barista Maeve Filkins also joined the Roseville store picket.

“Starbucks is the second largest fast food corporation in the world,” she said.

“And I’m looking around at all these people who work so hard and we can’t even get more than a 1.5(%) wage increase, which is ridiculous. The CEO makes $57,000 an hour.”

The union said they won’t settle for that proposal which “amounts to less than 50 cents an hour for most baristas.”

In response, Starbucks said it offers a “competitive average pay of over $18 per hour and best-in-class benefits… ” and said the union’s requests were “not sustainable.”

“It’s frustrating because it feels like we are not being valued and seen,” Rivers said.

“We’re just here for a living wage, dignity and respect, and just — serious offers. That’s all we want.”

The union and the company each blamed the other for the recent breakdown in negotiations.

Starbucks statement regarding strikes at US stores today:

“Only around 170 Starbucks stores did not open as planned. With over 10,000 company operated stores, 98% of our stores and nearly 200,000 green apron partners continuing to operate and serve customers during the holidays.”

Full statement from Starbucks on bargaining:

“Workers United delegates prematurely ended our bargaining session this week.  It is disappointing they didn’t return to the table given the progress we’ve made to date. Since April we’ve held more than nine bargaining sessions over 20 days. We’ve reached over thirty (30) meaningful agreements on hundreds of topics Workers United delegates told us were important to them, including many economic issues.

We are focused on enhancing the partner (employee) experience, with over $3 billion invested in the last three years. Starbucks offers a competitive average pay of over $18 per hour, and best-in-class benefits. Taken together they are worth an average of $30 per hour for baristas who work at least 20 hours per week. Benefits include health care, free college tuition, paid family leave and company stock grants. No other retailer offers this kind of comprehensive pay and benefits package.

Workers United proposals call for an immediate increase in the minimum wage of hourly partners by 64%, and by 77% over the life of a three-year year contract. This is not sustainable. We are ready to continue negotiations to reach agreements. We need the union to return to the table.“

Read the latest press release from Starbucks Workers United below:

“More than 5,000 Starbucks baristas walked off the job Tuesday, shutting down more than 300 Starbucks stores across 43 states in the largest-ever strike to hit the coffee giant. 

The Christmas Eve walkouts brought a five-day unfair labor practice (ULP) strike that began Friday in three states after the company failed to present a serious economic package in bargaining and grew throughout the busy pre-holiday rush to a powerful, nationwide conclusion. Workers decided to wage the ULP strikes after Starbucks offered no raises in the first year of a proposed deal and backtracked on the path forward it agreed to over the future of organizing and collective bargaining at the company. 

Striking baristas called out Starbucks for hundreds of unresolved unfair labor practice charges and the company’s failure to put forth viable economic proposals at the bargaining table that include new investments in baristas. 

‘I am paid $15.49 an hour as a barista, while Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol’s compensation package has been valued at more than $50,000 an hour when you break it down. Half the baristas in my store drive 30 minutes one way because they can’t afford to live closer to work,’ said Lauren Hollingsworth (she/her), a barista from Ashland, Oregon. ‘That’s absurd. Starbucks has lost its way. We know because we see it every day in our stores. My coworkers and I made the difficult decision to launch unfair labor practice strikes in hundreds of stores across the country because we know that investing in baristas is the only way to turn things around. These strikes are an initial show of strength, and we’re just getting started.’

Workers walked off the job at all three Starbucks locations in Cheyenne, Wyoming and the flagship roasteries in New York City and Seattle, including a 24-hour picket line at the Seattle Roastery. Across the country, workers chanted “No Contract, No Coffee,” and held signs that read, “Merry Strikemas” and “Santa Says Support Workers United,” as Teamsters drivers refused to cross picket lines to make deliveries. 

Baristas went on strike Tuesday in 43 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. 

‘In September, Brian Niccol became CEO with a compensation package worth at least $113 million. It’s worth a shocking 10,000 times the median hourly wage for a barista,’ said Michelle Eisen (she/her), a 14-year Buffalo Starbucks barista and bargaining delegate. ‘In October, we were ready to exchange comprehensive economic proposals. In October, November, and December, Starbucks failed to bring viable economic proposals to the table that included real investment in baristas. This is backtracking on months and months of progress and promises from the company to work toward an end-of-year framework ratification. We’re ready to do what it takes to show the company the consequences of not keeping their promises to baristas.’

SEIU International President April Verrett and Workers United President Lynne Fox joined workers on the strike line in rainy Philadelphia. 

‘This company works because you work, and so they need to get back to the bargaining table,” Verrett told striking Starbucks workers in Philadelphia. “We ain’t got nothing in this world without our word. And Starbucks committed to getting a contract, to getting this framework done by the end of the year, and we’re going to hold them accountable for that. Come back to the table, do what’s right so that we can get to the work of getting this company back on the right track. And that does not happen without you.’

Since Workers United and Starbucks announced a path forward earlier this year, both sides have engaged in hundreds of hours of bargaining and countless hours of preparation for each session. The company has repeatedly pledged publicly that it intended to reach contracts by the end of the year, and the two parties have advanced dozens of tentative agreements at the table. 

But Starbucks has yet to present workers with a serious economic proposal. Earlier this month, less than two weeks before their end-of-year deadline, Starbucks proposed an economic package with no new wage increases for union baristas now and a guarantee of only 1.5% in future years, which amounts to less than 50 cents an hour for most baristas. 

On Friday, the first day of the strike, baristas’ union filed a new unfair labor practice charge alleging Starbucks “refused to bargain and engaged in bad faith bargaining” over economic issues. There are hundreds of other unfair labor practice charges pending at the NLRB. 

‘They gave us an insulting economic proposal,’ Fox said to the strikers on the picket line in Philadelphia Tuesday. ‘And when I say insulting, I’ve been around a long time. It was pretty darn insulting. So in a year where they have spent a lot of money and made huge investments in their executive leadership, they have not done the same with the baristas, while at the same time admitting publicly that the baristas make the company run, that the company can’t run without the baristas, that the baristas are essential to their company. But even so, we got an insulting economic offer. No one wants to strike, but they’ve left us no choice. They haven’t honored their commitment to reach a foundational framework by the end of this year. … So I say to you now, this is just the beginning. We’re going to do whatever we have to do to get the company to honor their commitment.’

Over the course of 2024, Starbucks Workers United baristas have powered a “winning streak” of organizing that has led baristas at over 100 stores to vote to join the union. They’re driving forward a nationwide movement of more than 11,000 baristas working together to win workplace protections on core issues like respect, living wages, racial and gender equity, and fair scheduling. Partners at more than 535 stores across 45 states and the District of Columbia have won their union to date. In the last week, baristas won their union at six more stores in Maine, North Carolina, Texas, New York City, and Seattle, including the SoDo Reserve location within Starbucks Headquarters.

Baristas are going back to work Wednesday following the five-day ULP strike and are ready to return to the bargaining table to consider serious economic proposals from the company. They will strategize in the coming days on next steps in their campaign to win fair contracts. 

‘The holiday season should be magical at Starbucks, but for too many of us, there’s a darker side to the peppermint mochas and gingerbread lattes,” said Arloa Fluhr (she/her), a bargaining delegate from Illinois who has worked off and on at Starbucks for 18 years. “I’m a mom of three, including my daughter who is diabetic. I know what it’s like to panic because my hours were slashed and I won’t be able to pay my bills and could lose access to healthcare, including my daughter’s insulin. That’s why we’re steadfast in our demands for Starbucks to invest in baristas like me.'”