SEATTLE — Starbucks workers and labor activists rallied outside the company’s Seattle headquarters Wednesday to protest what they describe as union-busting efforts by executives.
Organizers said employees also walked off the job at more than 100 stores in 40 U.S. cities, though the company disputed the breadth of the protests and said nearly every store remained open. It did not immediately indicate how many locations closed. Some stores remained open because workers remained on the job, while others were staffed by employees from nearby stores who took additional shifts to cover for strikers, Starbucks said.
The demonstrations came on the eve of the company’s annual shareholders meeting and were designed to urge new Chief Executive Officer Laxman Narasimhan to take a more welcoming approach to unionization efforts, said organizers with Starbucks Workers United, which has asked shareholders to vote for a third party to assess the company’s commitment to labor rights.
“Starbucks baristas like me are the ones who keep our stores running. We remember our customers’ regular orders, make the lattes, clean up spills, and are often the bright spot of our customers’ days,” Sarah Pappin, a Seattle Starbucks worker, said in a prepared statement. “Starbucks should respect our right to organize and meet us at the bargaining table.”