Denver’s unionized Starbucks baristas join escalating national strike

Employees at Denver’s unionized Starbucks stores went on strike Saturday to protest what they say is the coffee company’s refusal to negotiate wages and address complaints about unfair labor practices.

The strike, organized by Starbucks Workers United, started at Starbucks locations in Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles on Friday and expanded to include stores in Denver, Columbus and Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Barista Shay Mannik joined her colleagues on the walkout outside the chain’s University Hills store Saturday morning. He said the group was “in high spirits” and had set up lawn chairs after the store’s management removed the site’s garden furniture to prevent it being used by workers.

Mannik shares a home with a colleague and another roommate, but said he still spends more than half of his income each month on rent. He said he’s seen other colleagues backtrack college plans and struggle to support children on an hourly wage that’s barely above minimum wage in Denver.

“They’ve completely forced our hand to fight for a living wage here,” Mannik said. “They have the money and they don’t invest it in the people who make their profits.”

Starbucks Workers United said in its press release that Starbucks submitted a proposal this month during ongoing contract negotiations that addressed wages but did not include immediate raises and only guaranteed a 1.5% increase in future years, which the union said amounts to for less than 50 cents per hour for most baristas.

The union warned that the strike will expand to include more stores each day until Tuesday, or until Starbucks meets the union’s demands for pay raises and solutions to what it says are hundreds of labor grievances.