A Starbucks Barista strike that protested by the company’s new clothing code grew on Thursday.
More than 2,000 Starbucks baristas in 120 American stores have strikes since Sunday to protest the new clothing code, according to Starbucks World United, a union that represents US workers of the coffee giant.
Starbucks set new limits from Monday in what their baristas can use under their green aprons. The clothing code requires that the employees of the stores operated by the company and licensed in the United States and Canada use a solid black shirt and chaqui, black or blue denim funds.
Under the previous clothing code, baristas could wear a wider range of dark colors and patterned shirts. Starbucks said that the new rules would cause their green aprons to stand out and create a feeling of familiarity for customers, since it tries to establish a warmer and more cozy sensation in their stores.
But Starbucks World United, the union that represents workers of 570 of the 10,000 American stores owned by Starbucks, said the dress code should be subject to collective bargaining.
“Starbucks has lost its course. Instead of listening to the baristas that make Starbuck experience what it is, they focus on all incorrect things, such as implementing a new restrictive clothing code,” said Paige Summers, a Starbucks from Hanover, Maryland. “Customers don’t care what color is our clothes when they wait 30 minutes for coffee with milk.”
Summers and others also criticized the company for selling Starbucks brand clothing styles that employees can no longer use to work on an internal website. Starbucks said he would give two free black t -shirts to each employee when he announced the new clothing code.
On Wednesday, Starbucks World Union said a total of 1,000 workers had organized strikes in 75 American stores. Starbucks said at that time that the strike was having a limited impact on its 10,000 American stores operated by the company. In some cases, the strikes closed the stores for less than an hour, the company said.
“It would be more productive if the union made the same effort to return to the table they are in protesting with black shirts to work,” Starbucks said in a statement. “More than 99% of our stores are open today serving customers, and they have been all week.”
Starbucks Workers United has been in union with US stores since 2021. Starbucks and the union have not yet reached a contract agreement, despite agreeing to return to the negotiation table in February 2024.
The union said this week that he filed a complaint before the National Board of Labor Relations claiming that Starbucks’ failure to negotiate about the new clothing code.
