Starbucks Sign Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
Starbucks Workers United is mobilizing a union effort at the coffee chain, kicking off one of the most compelling labor movements in the food industry
In December 2021, a group of workers at a Starbucks location in Buffalo, New York, kicked off a unionization wave at the country’s biggest coffee chain that is now sweeping the country. Organizing as Starbucks Workers United, a union affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, workers are currently waging one of the most compelling battles in the American labor movement as they seek higher wages, improved health insurance, and better working conditions.
Eater has been keeping tabs on unionization efforts at Starbucks, which has resulted in multiple nationwide strikes across the chain and, in March 2023, in former CEO Howard Schultz appearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to answer questions about the company’s approach to unionizing workers. Stay tuned here for all of our coverage of the Starbucks union sweep.
