Some Chicago Starbucks Baristas To Walk Off The Job Thursday

CHICAGO — Baristas at several Chicago-area Starbucks are scheduled to walk off the job on Thursday as part of an ongoing dispute with the coffee giant over better work conditions and benefits for employees.

Starbucks workers are set to strike as part of a nationwide Red Cup Rebellion, demanding that the company stop illegally refusing to bargain with employees over staffing, scheduling and other issues, the union for workers said in a news release on Wednesday.

While employees at five Chicago Starbucks and one location in Evanston were set to step away from their jobs on Thursday, workers at two stores — in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood and Greektown — did so a day earlier. Workers at the two stores, both of which unionized previously, claimed that the company does not provide workers with enough to do their jobs effectively, the Chicago Tribune reported on Wednesday.

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, the union said. 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.

"Starbucks Workers United is here to work with the company and as true partners. Me and my fellow partners have dealt with bullying and harassment that Starbucks continues, but thanks to us unionizing we are able to voice our opinions and fight back. Starbucks has missions and values that they don’t stand by but as a union, we’re able to hold Starbucks to those values,” said Angel Hall, a Chicago-based partner organizer of the strike. "That's why we're going on a ULP strike this Red Cup Day.”

In the Chicago area, the following locations are expected to experience staff walk-offs include:

• 519 Main St., Evanston: 6 a.m. - 9 a.m.
• 5964 North Ridge Ave., Chicago: 6:30 a.m. - Noon
• 6075 North Lincoln Ave., Chicago: 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.
• 6350 North Broadway, Chicago: 8 a.m. - 10 a.m.
• 116 S Halsted, Chicago: 7 a.m. - 9 a.m.
• Armitage & Hoyne, Chicago: 6 a.m. - 3 p.m.

According to a news release, the Red Cup Rebellion is expected to draw in students and customers, who are increasingly calling on the company to live up to its progressive values and listen to workers who are demanding the company respect their right to a union and bargain a fair contract.

Earlier this week, students at UCLA introduced a resolution at the student council calling on the administration to kick Starbucks off of campus as a consequence of its illegal union busting, which has resulted in administrative law judges finding the company has broken the law more than 270 times, union officials said in the news release.