(MENAFN- Live Mint) Over 1,000 unionised Starbucks workers are set to strike at 65 U.S. locations on Thursday, protesting stalled labour negotiations with the company.

The strike aims to disrupt Starbucks' Red Cup Day, one of the company's busiest annual events. Since 2018, Starbucks has offered customers a free reusable cup when they purchase a holiday drink on this day.

As reported by AP, Starbucks Workers United, the union organising Starbucks baristas, said stores in 45 cities would be impacted, including New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Diego, St. Louis, Dallas, Columbus, Ohio, and Starbucks' home city of Seattle. There is no date set for the strike to end, and more stores are prepared to join if Starbucks doesn't reach a contract agreement with the union, organizers said.

What did Starbucks say?

Starbucks stated that the vast majority of its U.S. stores would remain open and operate normally on Thursday. The company has 10,000 company-owned locations in the U.S., along with 7,000 licensed outlets in grocery stores, airports, and other venues.

Currently, about 550 company-owned U.S. Starbucks stores are unionised. While more stores have voted to unionise, Starbucks closed 59 unionised locations in September as part of a broader reorganisation effort.

Here's what's behind the strike.

What's behind the strike? A stalled contract agreement

Striking workers say they're protesting because Starbucks has yet to reach a contract agreement with the union. Starbucks workers first voted to unionize at a store in Buffalo in 2021. In December 2023, Starbucks vowed to finalize an agreement by the end of 2024. But in August of last year, the company ousted Laxman Narasimhan, the CEO who made that promise. The union said progress has stalled under Brian Niccol, the company's current chairman and CEO, AP reported.

Workers want higher pay, better hours

Workers say they are demanding better scheduling and increased staffing in stores, citing long customer wait times as a routine issue. They also claim many employees are not receiving the minimum 20 hours per week required to qualify for Starbucks' benefits.

Additionally, they are pushing for higher wages, highlighting that executives like CEO Laxman Narasimhan earn millions.

The union also wants the company to resolve hundreds of unfair labor practice charges filed by workers, who say the company has fired baristas in retaliation for unionizing and has failed to bargain over changes in policy that workers must enforce, like its decision earlier this year to limit restroom use to paying customers, AP reported.

Starbucks stands by its wages and benefits

Starbucks says it offers the best wage and benefit package in retail, worth an average of $30 per hour. Among the company's benefits are up to 18 weeks of paid family leave and 100% tuition coverage for a four-year college degree. In a letter to employees last week, Starbucks' Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly said the union walked away from the bargaining table in the spring.

Kelly said Starbucks remained ready to talk and“believes we can move quickly to a reasonable deal.” Kelly also said surveys showed that most employees like working for the company, and its barista turnover rates are half the industry average.

Limited locations with high visibility

Unionized workers have gone on strike at Starbucks before. In 2022 and 2023, workers walked off the job on Red Cup Day. Last year, a five-day strike ahead of Christmas closed 59 U.S. stores. Each time, Starbucks said the disruption to its operations was minimal. Starbucks United said the new strike is open-ended and could spread to many more unionized locations.

The number of non-union Starbucks locations dwarfs the number of unionized ones. But Todd Vachon, a union expert at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, said any strike could be highly visible and educate the public on baristas' concerns.

Unlike manufacturers, Vachon said, retail industries depend on the connection between their employees and their customers. That makes shaming a potentially powerful weapon in the union's arsenal, he said.

(With inputs from AP)

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