United States: Workers call for boycott of Starbucks

Starbucks baristas fighting for a fair contract need public support to put pressure on Starbucks.

More than 12,000 baristas have organized with Starbucks Workers United, winning more than 700 union elections nationwide, adding more workers to their ranks each consecutive month for nearly five straight years.

Starbucks is the second largest fast-food company in the world, and they have the resources to settle a first contract. It would take less than one day's sales to settle a fair and reasonable contract that meets baristas' demands. Instead, the company chooses to be the biggest U.S. labour law violator in modern history and stonewalls and stalls progress in negotiations.

Starbucks' flagrant disregard for labour law isn't just an attack on their own workers, it's an attack on all working people. When union baristas-backed by a coalition of allies-prove that they can take on the biggest bosses and win despite rampant union busting, it will put all employers on notice about the power of the labour movement.

That's why Starbucks baristas are calling on labour unions, federations and other allies to support the boycott, including through:

• Not purchasing Starbucks products for offices, meetings, or events, and to blacklist Starbucks from catering and sponsorships.
• Publicly amplifying the boycott, and encouraging members to do the same.
• And demanding that Starbucks settles a fair contract with union baristas.

When workers take on one of the biggest corporations in the world, they shouldn't have to do it alone. Solidarity has been the force for the greatest improvements in society, and solidarity is what's needed most today to protect all our communities.

In a statement, Starbucks Workers United said: "Starbucks is banking on customers' blind loyalty to the integrity and values this company once stood for in order to keep squeezing them for profits. At a time when working-class people across the country are struggling in a challenging economy, it is no longer possible to be both a Starbucks customer and in support of workers; choosing to spend money at Starbucks is choosing a law-breaking corporation over the baristas who make your coffee everyday exactly as you ask for it."

Read more and sign the boycott pledge here.