LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Starbucks workers in Louisville, Elizabethtown, and Clarksville are walking off the job Thursday for the "Red Cup Rebellion."
They are demanding that billion-dollar company stop illegally refusing to bargain with baristas over staffing, scheduling, and other issues, according to a news release.
The strike happens on the annual Red Cup Day because its one of the busiest days of the year. Starbucks expects to hands out tens of thousands of free reusable cups to customers who order holiday drinks.
"Workers earlier this fall filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board over Starbucks’ refusal to bargain around promotion days. Promotion days like Red Cup Day, half-off ThursYays and Buy One Get One Free offers cause a flood of customers to stores, without any additional staffing to cover the influx in orders," Tori Tambellini, a spokesperson for Workers United, said.
As part of the strike, the release said workers will demand Starbucks turn off mobile ordering on future promotion days -- which company executives are scheduling with "increasing frequency."
"On Red Cup Day, drink orders pile up and are abandoned, lines are out the door, and Starbucks workers are left to handle angry customers who have had to wait as much longer than usual for their beverages and food all while trying to make complicated holiday specialty beverages as fast as possible," Tambellini said. "When the supply of red cups runs out, customers get disappointed and often take their anger out on workers.
A worker from the Factory Lane Starbucks Store, who wishes to remain anonymous, said:
"It isn't about me, it is about all of us. Every benefit the company has given since last Red Cup Day has been because of stores striking and demanding better. And now we have more stores on strike than ever before because they see the changes that are happening, and that it is because of the unionized baristas organizing and demanding change. It has been 1 year since the first stores went on strike. We won't stop until we get our contract."
The local locations that are participating in the "Red Cup Rebellion" include: 1231 Veterans Pkwy, 12911 Factory Ln, 3103 S. Third Street, 972 Baxter Ave, and 111 The Loop.
More than 200 Starbucks stores, and around 5,000 workers, plan to participate in the walkout.
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