Unionized employees consider striking over contract, benefits and Pride decorations. (Photo courtesy of Starbucks)

Workers at more than 150 Starbucks stores across the country, including several in Illinois, may strike over the next week, claiming unfair labor practices.

As of Friday, June 23, Starbucks workers began participating in Strike with Pride, demanding that the company negotiate a fair contract with union stores and stop what workers call a “union-busting campaign,” which has impacted the company’s LGBTQIA+ workforce.
The Seattle Roastery, Starbucks’ flagship store in its home of Seattle, was the first location to kick off a possible week-long wave of strikes. On Friday, the flagship store was not able to open, according to strike organizers.

Starbucks Workers United, the organization representing union employees, said the company is preventing employees from putting up Pride decorations in dozens of stores across the United States in recognition of Pride Month. The union for Starbucks workers said the move is the latest in the company’s retaliation against workers, which includes threatening workers’ access to existing benefits, denying new benefits to union stores, firing workers and other attempts to dissuade partners from organizing.

Starbucks in Illinois, where workers are unionized and could strike during the coming week include:

• Rockford: 3001 N. Perryville Road
• Peoria: 1200 W. Main St.
• Cary: 620 Northwest Highway
• Carpentersville: 78 S. Kennedy Drive
• Elmhurst: 624 N. York Road
• Oak Park: 711 Lake St.
• Chicago: Hyde Park, 1174 E. 55^th St.; Bucktown, 2101 W. Armitage Ave.; Edgewater, 1070 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.; Greektown, 116 S. Halsted St.; Broadway & Devon, 6350 N. Broadway Ave.; and Lincoln Village, 6075 N. Lincoln Ave.
• Evanston: 519 Main St. and 1734 Sherman Ave.
• Skokie: Old Orchard Shopping Center
• Glenview: 2760 Willow Road

“Starbucks is scared of the power that their queer partners hold, and they should be,” said Moe Mills, a shift supervisor for three years in Richmond Heights, Mo. “Their choice to align themselves with other corporations that have withdrawn their ‘support’ of the queer community in the time we need it most shows that they are not the inclusive company they promote themselves to be.

“We’re striking with pride to show the public who Starbucks really is, and to let them know we’re not going anywhere.”

Starbucks Workers United noted that since December 2021, more than 8,000 workers in 330 Starbucks stores in 38 states and the District of Columbia have unionized.

In a combined statement, Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan and Sara Trilling, company executive vice president and president of Starbucks North America, said the Progressive Pride flag flies atop the Starbucks Support Center and at thousands of stores around the country.

“We want to be crystal clear. Starbucks has been and will continue to be at the forefront of supporting the LGBTQIA2+ community and we will not waiver in that commitment!” the joint statement issued Friday read. “Despite today’s public commentary, there has been no change to any of our policies as it relates to our inclusive store environments, our company culture and the benefits we offer our partners. We continue to encourage our store leaders to celebrate with their communities including for U.S. Pride Month in June, as we always have.”

The company executives noted that Starbucks founder Howard Schultz spoke out at the 2013 shareholders meeting in support of same-sex marriage, stating, “Not every decision is an economic decision. The lens in which we are making that decision is through the lens of our people.”

“That moment — and the dozens before and after it — forever put us on a path to building a Starbucks where everyone is welcome,” Narasimhan and Trilling said in their statement.

They concluded, “Starbucks will continue to be a place where our partners, customers and communities are seen, heard and valued. This is our work, this is our promise, and this is our purpose.”