Malta Starbucks joins strike as contract talks stall | News

Hopeful customers pulled in Tuesday morning to find the Dunning Street/Kelch Drive location closed and the workers outside waving signs.

“No contract, no coffee,” they shouted with some people stopping to ask what was going on and others honking in support.

The location is just one of dozens from coast to coast to take part in a strike that began on Friday in Los Angeles, Chicago and the chain’s hometown of Seattle. By Monday, employees at Starbucks stores in Boston, Dallas, Portland, Oregon, New York, Denver and Pittsburgh, among others, had joined in. The chain told the Associated Press on Monday that the strike has had “no significant impact” on its operations.

The union also wants the company to resolve outstanding legal issues, including hundreds of unfair labor practice charges that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board. Since 2021, baristas at 535 company-owned U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to join the union.

“Thousands of baristas are getting their voices heard today,” said Nicolas Jancek, the strike captain and supervisor of the Malta store. “A lot of us were dumbstruck when we go to have our annual discussions for our raises and it was 2%. We have been used to getting 5%, and as prices are going up, as inflation is going up, our wages are going down now. Meanwhile, we invest over $50,000 an hour on our new CEO.”

Starbucks told the Associated Press on Monday that its U.S. baristas make an average of $18 per hour. With benefits — including health care, free college tuition and paid family leave — Starbucks’ pay package is worth an average of $30 per hour for baristas who work at least 20 hours per week, the company told the AP. Jancek said Wednesday morning that he recently lost his health insurance.

“I just find it very convenient that, as the period came for us to renew our health insurances, a lot of people saw hours dip and that’s what we’re here to try and get, we want the hours,” he said. “I have people coming in working 12 hour days just to make up for that, yet they’re still not seeing those benefits because they have to wait for the next period.”

Workers have told the AP they deserve more, and note that Starbucks’ new chairman and CEO, Brian Niccol, who started in September, could make more than $100 million in his first year on the job.

Jancek said Wednesday morning, with the proposed 2% raise, some of his coworkers would only see up to a 50-cent raise.

Starbucks Workers United claims the company has failed to reach a contract with them this year, which it said it would do in February, according to reporting by the Associated Press on Monday.

Now, the union, which began its efforts in 2021, is holding strikes across the country and Jancek said they plan to keep doing it as long as the company stalls on contract negotiations.

“We respect our partners’ right to engage in lawful strike activity, and we appreciate the thousands of partners across the country who are continuing to support each other and deliver the Starbucks experience for our customers,” Starbucks said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Jancek criticized the company’s unwillingness to fairly negotiate an economic package, criticizing the company for allegedly allowing the CEO to take a jet to work meetings.

“We’re here for all the people who are speaking up with us or can’t speak up for themselves,” he said.

Clifton Park barista and bargaining delegate Lee Wendell was also at the Malta location protesting. She said the Clifton Park location is still open but that workers from there were invited to strike at Malta spot.

“We need to show Brian [Niccol] that we mean business,” Wendell said. “We need a good contract, we’re not just going to roll over for a mediocre bad contract. I’m fighting hard for my workers out here. I need them to feel safe, to feel better. I’ve been working for Starbucks for seven years. I know it can be better.”