The Starbucks union says its strike has expanded to over 30 locations throughout the country, with the latest work stoppage hitting a store in Albany, NY, days after after New York City’s socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani called for a boycott of the chain.
Baristas at the Starbucks on New Scotland Avenue in New York’s state capital went on strike Thursday, the same day top officials with the incoming Mamdani administration joined a picket line outside a Starbucks in Manhattan’s Financial District.
Continuing his anti-capitalist message, Mamdani tweeted: “making NYC affordable means an end to unfair labor practices and a living wage for our workers.
“We are their partners in the fight to live in this city with dignity,” said the pol, who takes office just after midnight on Jan. 1.
Mamdani’s transition co-chair, lefty darling Lina Khan, and his pick for first deputy mayor, Dean Fuleihan, gave moral support to the striking baristas, according to the mayor-elect’s tweet.
The Post has sought comment from the Mamdani campaign.
Meanwhile upstate, over a dozen baristas were seen holding signs in the early hours of Thursday, protesting what their union calls management’s slow-walking of contract negotiations.
The New Scotland Avenue location is the first in the Upstate Capitol region to join the strike, the Times Union reported.
As of Friday, the strike had expanded to stores in some 25 US cities — including Cleveland, Memphis, and Springfield, Mo. — according to Starbucks Workers United. At least 1,000 workers have participated, the group said.
Union members launched the strike last week on Starbucks’ “Red Cup Day,” an annual promotion in which the chain hands out a reusable cup to anyone who orders one of the store’s holiday drinks.
“Starbucks knows where we stand,” the union told The Post in a statement.
“We’ve been clear and consistent on what baristas need to succeed: more take-home pay, better hours, resolving legal issues,” the group added. “Bring us NEW proposals that address these issues so we can finalize a contract.
“Until then, you’ll see us and our allies on the picket line.”
Starbucks says the strike has caused minimal disruption at its stores.
“We’re proud to offer the best job in retail,” a Starbucks spokesperson told The Post in a statement. “When the union is ready to return to the bargaining table, we’re ready to talk.”
Baristas first began to organize during the pandemic. In August 2021, a group of Starbucks employees founded Starbucks Workers United in Buffalo, NY.
The group says since then, it has grown to have members at more than 640 beaneries representing over 14,000 workers in some 45 states.
Starbucks, which operates around 10,000 company-owned stores in the US, says around 5% of its stores are unionized.
The Seattle-based conglomerate’s 7,000 licensed locations in airports and grocery stores are not included in organized union efforts.
Since 2021, around 121 stores have voted against unionization.
In the last four years, nearly 200 stores have staged work stoppages that lasted more than 450 days total, the union says.
Earlier this year, Starbucks and the union agreed to have a mediator hear their dispute over stalled contract talks.
The union has accused management of firing workers involved in organizing and shutting down stores with active labor campaigns.
Howard Schultz, the former CEO, has said that Starbucks employees didn’t need to unionize since the company already provides sufficient benefits and wages to its baristas.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
