Starbucks unionized workers to strike on Red Cup Day Thursday November 16, 2023

SEATTLE - Nearly 380 Starbucks workers from 14 stores in nine cities across Washington State will strike on November 16, 2023 joining the coast-to-coast “Red Cup Rebellion,” demanding the coffee giant stop illegally refusing to bargain with baristas over staffing, scheduling and other issues. 

The strike comes on Red Cup Day, when the company hands out tens of thousands of free reusable cups, one of its busiest customer traffic days of the year.

Workers in Seattle, Shoreline, Bellingham, Marysville, Everett, Olympia, Tumwater, Vancouver, and Redmond are planning to participate in the Red Cup Day Strikes, and workers in three of those stores have already walked out in advance of Red Cup Day. 

In addition to the 14 stores going on strike, community allies and local unions are hosting consumer-education events at 36 non-union Starbucks locations across WA state in Seattle, Bellevue, Renton, Tukwila, Tumwater, Olympia, Everett, Marysville, Kent, Lake Stevens, Spokane, Kennewick, Vancouver, Redmond and Shoreline.

Workers at the Starbucks at Gateway Plaza, 185th and Aurora will be among the strikers.   

As part of the strike, workers will demand Starbucks turn off mobile ordering on future promotion days, which company executives are scheduling with increasing frequency.

“Red Cup Day is a notoriously difficult day for Starbucks Workers,” said Seattle Roastery barista Moonie Atchley, “because we’re always understaffed. Lines are long, customers are frustrated and angry, and workers get shouted at, and sometimes even injured from being forced to make drinks at a frenetic pace for hours on end. 

"Starbucks just announced record-breaking profits: they absolutely CAN pay baristas and staff stores better. Baristas shouldn’t be sustaining lifelong injuries, or struggling to keep a roof over our heads, just so Starbucks can keep making record profits. 

"We make the coffee that makes Starbucks rich. So, hundreds of us are going on strike on Red Cup Day because they’d be nowhere without our labor. 

"When we fight, we win.”