LOS ANGELES (NewsNation) — Starbucks baristas returned to work on Wednesday following the largest strike of its kind at stores across the U.S. Meanwhile, Amazon delivery drivers paused their picket lines but plan to resume their fight for better wages and working conditions.
Amazon workers are demanding the companies recognize them as unionized employees or meet their demands for an inaugural labor contract.
This major year-end push stems from failed negotiations and strategically hits during the busiest week of the year.
Contract negotiations at Starbucks
The Workers United Union represents about 10,000 Starbucks employees at more than 500 stores.
Union leaders said the strikes expanded on Saturday to include stores in Denver, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio. In a post Sunday on X, the union said that picket lines had expanded to Brooklyn and Long Island in New York, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.
The five-day strike, which began on Friday, initially closed Starbucks cafes in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle. It’s now expanded to 10 cities, though it impacts just a fraction of the more than 16,000 Starbucks locations across the country.
Workers blame Starbucks for an impasse in talks, as the company blames workers for demanding unsustainable wage increases.
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The union argues Starbucks has failed to honor a commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year.
The union also wants Starbucks to resolve outstanding legal issues, including hundreds of unfair labor practice charges that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board. The agency also has opened or settled hundreds of charges against Amazon.
In launching the strikes that started Friday in Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle, Workers United said Starbucks proposed an economic package with no new wage increases for unionized baristas now and a 1.5% increase in future years.
Starbucks said Workers United prematurely ended a bargaining session this week. The company also says it already offers pay and benefits worth $30 per hour for baristas who work at least 20 hours per week.
The company said it is ready to continue negotiation when the union wants to come back to the bargaining table.
“Workers United will seek to cause more stores to close and claim that their strike has reached “hundreds of stores in dozens of cities,”” Sara Kelly, Starbucks executive vice president and chief partner officer, said in a statement Tuesday.
“The public conversation may lack the important context that the vast majority of our stores (97-99%) will continue to operate and serve customers, and we expect a very limited impact to our overall operations.”
Teamster-led strikes at Amazon
Action against Amazon is more extensive, centering around claims of corporate greed that shortchange employees.
The Internal Brotherhood of Teamsters claims to have nearly 9,000 workers on strike nationwide, demanding higher pay and improved working conditions.
According to the union, workers who voted to authorize strikes began picketing on Thursday after Amazon ignored a Sunday deadline the union had set for contract negotiations.
Drivers argue they should get paid the same as United Postal Service workers or UPS drivers.
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Amazon announced plans to raise wages for its subcontracted drivers to $22 an hour following union pressure. However, Teamsters members driving for UPS earn an average of $49 an hour.
The Teamsters union has primarily focused on organizing delivery drivers, who work for contractors handling Amazon’s deliveries. However, Amazon has rejected calls to negotiate, since it doesn’t consider the drivers to be its employees.
Teamsters also say the union represents some Amazon warehouse workers, totaling about 10,000 Amazon workers nationwide — a small portion of Amazon’s 1.5 million employees.
The union hasn’t disclosed the number of workers participating in the strike or how long it will last. But it included Amazon-employed warehouse workers in San Francisco and subcontracted delivery drivers in cities like Chicago, New York City, Atlanta, and other parts of California.
Will the strike impact holiday packages?
For customers, logistics experts suspect there could be minor delays in California, Georgia, Illinois and New York.
However, Amazon told NewsNation it doesn’t expect the strike to impact operations, and won’t affect customers receiving their packages on time.
Additionally, Amazon argues the drivers are not its employees. The company also says these actions are protests, not strikes since no Amazon employee or third-party driver pays Teamsters union dues.
NewsNation+’s national correspondent Mills Hayes and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
