Montclair Starbucks Workers Strike Alongside 100 Other Stores

MONTCLAIR, NJ — They’re calling it the “Red Cup Rebellion” – a nationwide day of protest against corporate coffee giant, Starbucks. And workers at a store in Montclair will be among those abandoning their posts on Thursday to demand change, their union says.

According to Starbucks Workers United, baristas and other workers at three stores in New Jersey – Montclair, Hopewell (Pennington) and Summit – will be taking part in Thursday’s strike, which is being done in solidarity with more than 100 stores across the U.S.

Their demands? Stop with the “unfair labor practices” and start bargaining with unionized workers in good faith, union spokespeople said.

Thursday’s work stoppage is taking place on the same day as the corporation’s Red Cup Day, when thousands of Starbucks locations across the country will offer customers a branded cup with select purchases. Striking workers said they will be demonstrating outside of their stores and handing out “Starbucks Workers United branded cups” instead.

Here’s why workers are striking, their union said:

“Starbucks partners are the face and cornerstone of the company, yet they are forced into running perpetually understaffed stores, and given inconsistent schedules they can’t rely on. Conditions like these directly affect customers - who face longer wait times - and are what led Starbucks partners nationwide to begin unionizing. The company has only responded with disdain and disregard for its employees. Now, Starbucks partners are demanding the company meet them at the bargaining table to create improved standards in staffing and scheduling, along with a host of other bargaining proposals that have been crafted by partner leaders across the country.”

Starbucks locations across the nation have been unionizing in the past year, including the Montclair-Church Street location on South Park Street, which became the fourth store in New Jersey to do so in August.

The Montclair baristas cited "understaffing, poorly working equipment and improper training" as reasons why they wanted to form a union. Read More: Montclair Starbucks Workers Unionize, Join 3 Other Stores In NJ

Nationally, more than 260 Starbucks retail locations have filed paperwork with the NLRB to begin the union election process since the organizing campaign began in August 2021. More than 140 Starbucks locations have voted for unionization throughout the country, the New Jersey AFL-CIO noted.

Reached for comment about the Montclair workers' union petition in July, a Starbucks spokesperson told Patch that the company is "listening and learning from the partners in these stores – as we always do across the country."

"From the beginning, we've been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us, and that conviction has not changed," the spokesperson continued. "We've also been clear that we respect our partners legal right to organize and will bargain in good faith with the stores that vote to be represented by the union."

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