Starbucks workers are scheduled to rally outside of the University Circle store Saturday as part of national demonstrations aimed at getting the company to reach its first contract with the union.
The 2 p.m. Starbucks Workers United rally at the store, 11302 Euclid Ave., is one of 70 the union planned nationally, beginning Oct. 24. The Nov. 1 rally at the University Circle store is the only one planned for Greater Cleveland.
The union began earnest negotiation on its first contract with the company in April 2024, but nothing substantive has happened since this spring, according to Akshai Singh, who works at the store and is on the contract bargaining committee.
We’re standing together as community members and as workers to say that everybody should have a chance at dignity in making a living at a multi-billion dollar corporation that is making a massive profit.”
Akshai Singh, who works at the University Circle store and is on the contract bargaining committee.
“We’re just letting the company know that we are serious,” he said. “We’re hoping they would come back to the table and renegotiate on scheduling, wages and benefits. We have most of our contract already settled.”
The company sees it another way. The union “chose to walk away from the bargaining table,” a Starbucks spokesperson emailed Signal Cleveland.
Cleveland Starbucks Workers have been on the path to a union contract for more than three years
Starbucks workers at several stores in Greater Cleveland were active in the national unionization effort. They were involved in national actions, including demonstrations and one-day strikes. The first Starbucks store unionized in Buffalo, New York, in late 2021. The University Circle store was unionized in 2022. Last spring, Starbucks union members from throughout the country met – many face-to-face for the first time – at the Workers United union convention in Cleveland. The Starbucks Workers United Union is part of Workers United.
Improved staffing and a safer working environment for baristas are also on the union’s list, according to a Starbucks Workers United news release. The union has accused the coffeehouse chain of “stonewalling negotiations.” Because of this, workers are beginning to vote on authorizing a strike if the situation doesn’t improve, according to the release. The union represents more than 12,000 baristas at over 650 stores nationwide, according to the union’s website. The company spokesperson emailed that the union represents fewer than 10,000 of such workers, or about 4% of baristas.
“Any agreement needs to reflect the reality that Starbucks already offers the best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits for hourly partners,” the spokesperson wrote, adding that the company gets more than one million job applications a year. “We’re investing over $500 million to put more partners in stores during busy times.”
Public invited to join
The union is inviting community workers who support them to join Starbucks workers at the rally. Members of other unions and workers attempting to organize at other businesses or organizations are expected to attend, Singh said.
“We’re standing together as community members and as workers to say that everybody should have a chance at dignity in making a living at a multi-billion dollar corporation that is making a massive profit,” he said.
After beginning negotiations in April 2024, things went fairly smoothly until this spring, Singh said. He said it was then that the union rejected a company offer and Starbucks didn’t present them with another. Economic issues, including raises, were a sticking point, Singh said. For example, he said Starbucks offered far less than the 3% annual raises the company has customarily given.
The spokesperson didn’t address the question posed about raises in her email.
“It’s not a question of whether they have the economic capabilities of meeting our demands,” Singh said. “It’s a matter of whether they will just do the right thing.”