Nationwide Starbucks Strike Hits Providence on Christmas Eve

Nationwide Starbucks Strike Hits Providence on Christmas Eve

The recent national employee strikes at coffee giant chain Starbucks have come to Providence. 

On Tuesday, a picket line had formed outside of the One Financial Plaza location in the city’s financial district. 

About 15 protestors picketed the downtown in a light snow

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As The New York Times reported, “A union representing more than 10,000 Starbucks employees said a strike that began Friday had expanded to include more than 300 stores on Tuesday, the planned final day of a five-day walkout.”

“The union, Workers United, represents Starbucks employees at more than 500 company-owned stores across the country, about 5 percent of the U.S. total,” reported The Times. “It said it called the strike because Starbucks had yet to resolve more than 150 unfair-labor-practice charges on issues like retaliatory firings and cuts to hours, and because Starbucks had not offered a substantial wage increase during contract negotiations."

 

Most Recent Protest in Rhode Island

It marks the latest action in Providence - as GoLocal reported in November 2023:

Starbucks workers at the One Financial store in Providence filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to unionize with Starbucks Workers United. 

Following a small protest in opposition to what employees say is corporate management’s “refusal to bargain,” workers at the downtown Providence location voted to unionize in December 2023.