Bernie Sanders backs Starbucks workers starting three day strike at 100 US stores

Senator Bernie Sanders has thrown his support behind workers at 100 Starbucks stores across America, backing those calling for better conditions and the right to form unions.

The 81-year-old self-styled democratic socialist was among those supporting workers’ calls to boycott the international chain for the duration of the strike.

Those taking part in the strike action, which has resulted in the temporary closure of Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz’s local coffee shop in Seattle, say they are seeking better working conditions, and for the company to stop what they say are anti-union habits.

“I stand in strong solidarity with Starbucks workers on strike today,” Mr Sanders wrote on Twitter. “It is absurd that Howard Schultz — a guy worth BILLIONS of dollars — is pulling out all the stops to deny decent wages and dignity on the job to the very workers who helped him amass his wealth.”

More than 1,000 baristas at 100 stores were planning to walk out, according to Starbucks Workers United, the labour group organising the effort. The strike will be the longest in the year-old unionisation campaign.

This is the second major strike in a month by Starbucks workers in the US. On 1 Nov, workers at 110 Starbucks stores held a one-day walkout that coincided with the company’s annual Red Cup Day, when the company gives reusable cups to customers who order a holiday drink.

The union says the strike is intended to draw attention to unfair labour practices, including closing stores which have voted to join the union, such as the first store in the company’s Seattle hometown to vote for such a union.

“Starbucks Workers United is the union drive that has taken the labour movement by storm,” the union says on its website. “We are a union of Starbucks Workers, by Starbucks Workers, for Starbucks Workers, organising with the support of Workers United. Starbucks workers have formed more new unions in a 12-month period than any US company in the last 20 years.”

On Friday, the union’s Twitter handle posted images of workers taking part in action across the country.

“Liberty and Baum is out here demanding an end to Starbucks’ unfair labor practices and union busting in the face of scabs and management!! Head on out and support them if you can,” tweeted members at a coffee shop in Pittsburgh.

In Seattle, staff at the branch in Madison Park, one of the city’s most expensive neighborhood and home to Mr Schultz, tweeted: “Madison Park (Howard’s home store) is SHUT DOWN.”

Labour leaders believe the efforts of Starbucks workers over the last few years have inspired people working for other large corporations, such as Amazon and Trader Joe’s. Staff at several locations of the grocery chain voted to unionise this year.

Mr Schultz is aged 69 and worth $3.2bn. He is currently on his third run as company CEO, having been chairman and CEO from 1986 to 2000 as well as from 2008 to 2017. He has been interim CEO since earlier this year.

The union said the it made history “when over 110 Starbucks stores and 1,000 baristas walked out on strike on November 17, 2022 in what was dubbed Red Cup Rebellion”.

In a statement given to Philadelphia, it added: “Yet, instead of listening to workers, Starbucks decided to escalate their anti-union campaign by closing the Broadway & Denny location, the first store to organize in Seattle, on the one-year anniversary of the first Starbucks union election win. Starbucks doubled down on their union-busting, so workers are going to double down their fight for a contract.”

Industry analysts have been struck by how personally the apparently paternalistic Mr Schultz appears to oppose the effort to unionise, having long suggested that he should be able to provide for the workers without the need to organise.

He has shown up at a locations where votes are taking place and spoken against the efforts to unionise.

In November 2021, as the vote was taking place in Buffalo, Mr Schultz told a story about the Holocaust to promote the company’s benefits to a group of employees.

CNN said Mr Schultz, who is Jewish, said a rabbi in Israel told him about the experiences of prisoners at concentration camps in Poland: They were only given a few blankets and had to share.

“Not everyone, but most people shared their blanket with five other people,” said Mr Schultz. “So much of that story is threaded into what we’ve tried to do at Starbucks – is share our blanket.”

In response to questions from The Independent, Starbucks issued a statement that said: “It is unfortunate that Workers United continues to spread misleading claims while disrupting the Starbucks Experience that our partners and customers have come to love and expect. Despite these delay tactics, we remain focused on working together and engaging meaningfully and directly with the union to make Starbucks a company that works for everyone.”