Editor’s Note – Given the upcoming strike, we at New Labor Press are re-publishing this article by the Organization of Class-conscious Service Workers (OCSW) which contains the class-conscious workers’ strike committee platform and sharp analysis of the context and strike strategy pursued by Starbucks Workers United’s current state union-aligned leadership. The original article, as well as a PDF version, can be found on OCSW’s webstie by clicking here.

Since Brian Niccol became the Chairman and CEO of
Starbucks, bargaining between SBWU and the company has
come to a standstill, with the new leadership refusing to
continue bargaining. Since that time, there has been all sorts
of talk of the upcoming SBWU strike response to once and
for all obtain a contract with the company. Of course, strikes
are the primary weapon of the working class and we must
take up this weapon. All of the rights that workers have won
throughout the history of this country have been won through
the working class engaging in mass strike actions, paid for
with their blood, sweat, and tears. It is an absolute necessity
to take up this tool in the modern day as well, but the way in
which SBWU, and by extension their leaders in SEIU and
AFL-CIO, are planning for the upcoming strike has some
serious issues that will lead to either the failure of the strike,
or a sellout contract: namely, the fixed time limit of the
November strike.

Traditionally, strikes are meant to continue indefinitely until
the demands of the workers are met, but SBWU has not
done this historically. Lets take the Red Cup Day strikes as
an example; while targeting the strikes for one of the busiest
days of the year may seem effective, their impact is almost
negated by the fact that they have a definite end. We can also
look to the Christmas strikes of 2024 to see the same effect,
or lack of effect. These strikes had a set end date from their
inception, and again the company did not budge. This is
emblematic of the strategy of state unions, of which SIEU is
a member of the largest group of state unions, the AFL-
CIO. We cannot trust the groups of bureaucrats that have
sold out the workers time and time again to have our best
interests at heart. Let us not confuse the situation too much-
the fact a strike is happening is a good thing, and all
Starbucks workers must take action to fight for the
improvements to their jobs that they have desperately been
seeking and fighting for. However, we must state the obvious
truth: that a strike that has a defined end date, will not be
successful.

SBWU has made no real secret of the existence of the planning
for this strike, nor for the fact that it will only go on for 6
weeks. Most active members of SBWU are already aware of
this fact, and undoubtedly the company is as well. All the
defined end date serves to accomplish is giving Starbucks an
opportunity to plan ahead. The company merely needs to set
aside enough capital to weather the 6 weeks, plan out scabbing
to staff union stores (which is an easy task in most districts
given the fact that the union makes up less than 5% of stores
nationally), all to keep production flowing. And this can help us
understand the core issue with the strike strategy of SBWU
and SEIU, the union movements and strikes they organize are
not aimed at meaningfully stopping production. Their strategy
is to create media attention around the strikes to attempt to
hurt Starbucks’ public image in order to scare investors. If we
look to history, we see this strategy nowhere in successful
strikes. The most effective and wide reaching strikes are ones
that can organize the most workers possible to effectively halt
production. When no commodities are being produced, the flow
of capital comes to a screeching halt- that is what really
terrifies the ruling class as a whole.

Even with the problems with the strike strategy we have listed
here, it is absolutely necessary for Starbucks workers to
participate in the upcoming strike. For those truly committed
to building an effective union movement at Starbucks, there is
no alternative; they must not, under any circumstances, scab.
Starbucks workers must take matters into their own hands and
fight for their common demands. Committees of workers must
be formed in every store, district, and city, to take up the
leadership and maintenance of the strike. The strike
committees will continue the strike regardless of if their is a
sellout contract approved by SBWU and their state unionist
leaders in the AFL-CIO; we need to work together to hold
them accountable to our demands. Strike committees must
organize their strike efforts in a way that maximizes the
element of surprise to catch the company off guard, and they
must also use every creative means possible of organizing their
coworkers and communities to take part in the strike effort.

Strike Committees must ensure that the strike is carried out
with the genuine collective leadership of Starbucks workers
themselves, on the picket lines, and not the leadership of State
Union bureaucrats in some far off office, who would sell out the
interests of Starbucks workers with a terrible contract just to
make sure the union dues start flowing in.

Starbucks Workers must begin the process of organizing their
strike committees now, before the November strike, to ensure
that we can go beyond what SBWU has planned. We must
establish real working-class, shop level leadership and
organization to ensure that their are no office bureaucrats that
make decisions for Starbucks workers alongside reactionary
state officials. If Starbucks workers do not take up the task of
leading themselves in their union struggle, they will end up with a
situation similar to the Uprisings in 2020: millions rose up
against racist state violence, but due to leadership from
democrats and moderates who sold out the righteous anger of the
people, calls for police abolition turned into calls to de-fund the
police, and calls for revolution became calls to vote blue no
matter who. If Starbucks workers don’t take leadership for
themselves, away from the state unions, calls for $25/hr starting
pay will become calls $18/hr, calls for strikes will become calls
for meaningless sip ins. The right to strike itself has already been
sold away by SEIU within the tentative agreement, the most
fundamental tool of the working class has been abandoned by the
state union already! We truly believe in the original stated
mission of SBWU, to be an independent labor movement for
Starbucks workers. But the truth is, with Workers United being
a part of SEIU and AFL-CIO, one of the most sellout state
unions (see Baristas Voice issue #1 for more details) and the
most impotent and backwards union center, the mission of an
independent labor movement for Starbucks workers has been
betrayed. Starbucks workers have no alternative- either we form
strike committees or face failure or a sellout contract.

The strike committees must struggle for nothing less than the
following:

• For the abolition of the No-Strike Clause in the Tentative agreement, and the full right to strike without limits.
• $30/hr starting wage
  • Starbucks has around 200k US employees and made slightly under 3 billion in operating income in the first three quarters of 2025. 1600 hours a year for full time and less for part time x 200k employees x roughly $10/hour raise would cost 1 to 3 billion dollars depending on the ratio of part time to full time employees. For the past couple years, the operating income has been $5.5 billion, the company has the money even for the highest cost estimates.
• Hourly guarantee of 25/week for part time employees and 40/week for full time employees
• Employee insurance plan should have a premium covered 100% by the employers
• Employee insurance plan should include gender affirming care.
• Establishment of a joint committee composed of half employee representatives, half corporate representatives for resolving grievances involving management
• Anything past 8 hours in one day is paid at overtime rate, hours worked between midnight and 8am are also paid at overtime rate
• Hazard pay for extreme weather, including extreme winds, snowfall, rainfall, exposure to temperatures above 85ºF or below freezing
• Minimum of two consecutive days off per week
• Minimum turnaround time of 12 hours between shifts
• Anti-harassment, workplace surveillance/micromanagement and anti-discrimination provisions, in particular abuses against nationally oppressed workers, immigrant workers, women workers, and LGBT workers, committed by bosses and managers.
• Include contract language that weakens or outright eliminates managerial rights clauses, especially concerning the pace of work. SBWU has already agreed to managerial rights language in article 52 of the Tentative Agreement
• Explicit protections against harassment from customers, including the right to refuse service.
• An end to the restrictive dress code and punishments stemming from it.
• An end to the writing on cups policy.
• A Minimum shift of 7 people for peak times, and 5 people for off peak times.

Starbucks Workers Take Control!
Strike Committees In Every Shop!