Starbucks and Workers United Union Agree to Contract Mediation

The Starbucks and the union, which represented thousands of its employees, said on Thursday that they brought a broker into a push to revive contract negotiations that had stopped over a connection increase.

In a joint statement, the two sides said they had made progress in the last nine months and that they were “obliged to continue working together – with a broker’s help – to navigate complex questions and reach out to Fair contracts. “

Workers United, the trade union, representing Starbucks workers in more than 500 company-owned stores throughout the United States, had hoped to complete a framework by the end of 2024 that would form the basis for contracts in individual trade unions. But Starbucks did not offer a significant pay rise during the latest negotiation session in December, the union said. At that time, the company called the union’s salary proposal “not sustainable.”

Standoff got a five-day strike that began for approx. 10 to 15 stores in Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago and spread to dozens more in larger cities during the busy holiday season, union representatives said at the time.

The Union’s efforts at Starbucks began in Buffalo in 2021, and approx. 5 percent of the chain’s company -owned US locations have now organized. Federal supervisory authorities have accused the company of violating the Labor Court hundreds of times in its efforts to crack down on union organization. Starbucks has denied the accusations.

Last February, after months of stopped conversations, Starbucks signaled a shift in his approach to the labor campaign during a newly installed CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, who agreed to initiate contract discussions.

But what the Union saw at the time as a remarkable change in the strategy has failed to give an agreement. After monthly negotiation sessions began in April, both sides said they hoped to implement a framework for a national contract at the end of the year – a deadline the ultimate did not meet. Mr. Narasimhan left the company in August.

A framework and subsequent contracting in Starbucks stores across the country would represent a remarkable development in working conditions in business. Larger companies, including Amazon and Apple, have resisted the union that are in different degrees in recent years.

Starbucks and Workers United have reached agreements on dozens of questions related to working conditions, the union said at the end of last year. But they remain in odds of the most important financial provisions. In the latest negotiation session in December, the company offered to guarantee baristas a salary increase of at least 1.5 percent a year.

“We are optimistic that Starbucks will go away from their permanent position on pay and benefit improvements in this next phase of the negotiations,” said Michelle Eisen, a long-time Starbucks Barista, who has helped lead the organization, in a statement on Thursday .

A spokesman for Starbucks refused to comment beyond the joint statement.

When submitting trade union elections, Starbucks workers have also cited frustration over understaffing and inadequate training, problems that seemed to intensify during the pandemic. Workers United pointed to “Fair Travel, Benefits and Staff” as the main concerns that run the strike in December.

This week, Brian Niccol, who became the chain’s CEO in September, outlined strategic decisions that appear to be partly aimed at assigning employees, most of whom are not yet united. He told Wall Street analysts and investors that Starbucks had increased working hours in 3,000 stores, saying the staff “had become too thin.” The company’s movements to simplify its menu and smooth out its mobile ordering systems, he said, is partly aimed at improving working conditions.

Noam Scheiber contributed with reporting.