“Starbucks Is on the Ropes,” Says SBWU President Lynne Fox, Who Is Eyeing a Strike

One year later, Niccol is driving a ​“Back to Starbucks” turnaround strategy, implementing a dizzying number of policy and program changes. Baristas have said that the changes are making their jobs harder, not easier, and stores remain understaffed. That strategy at present is bound to fail, since you can’t get ​“Back to Starbucks” without properly valuing the people who make the Starbucks experience what it is — including current and future union baristas.

That’s why we’re calling on Niccol to return to the bargaining table, to address our remaining demands for better wages and conditions for employees, and to listen to union baristas who have thoughtful solutions for how the company might begin to fix what ails the brand.

Union baristas’ first demand is more hours to improve store staffing. Baristas like Arloa Fluhr from Illinois aren’t getting the hours they request, even when stores are understaffed. Fluhr is a barista and mom of three who relies on Starbucks’ health insurance to care for her daughter with diabetes. The catch: you need to work an average of 20 hours a week to qualify for the benefits Starbucks loves to brag about. Because of erratic scheduling, Fluhr doesn’t know whether she’ll consistently qualify.

Their second demand is higher take-home pay, because so many are struggling to pay their bills. Too many Starbucks partners are on SNAP and Medicaid. Many more can’t afford everyday necessities like rent, groceries, and healthcare costs.

The last demand is that the company address the hundreds of unresolved unfair labor practice charges (ULPs). This includes numerous cases where administrative judges or the National Labor Relations Board have determined Starbucks broke labor law. What’s more, our union has filed dozens of new ULP complaints since Niccol became CEO, signaling Starbucks is returning to a concerning pattern of disregard for labor law and workers’ union rights.

As the president of Workers United, representing more than 12,000 union Starbucks baristas in 45 states and Washington D.C., I’ve had a front row seat to one of the fastest-growing union movements of this century.

Starbucks Workers United baristas have won union elections at more than 640 stores and counting, inspiring people all over the world. Hundreds of baristas join our union every month. These baristas are full of hope and good ideas for improving the company. But while Starbucks calls them ​“partners,” it’s an empty word when they don’t have the support needed to perform the basic functions of their job. And it’s an empty word when Starbucks executives don’t listen to their needs and ideas for how to improve their workplaces.

In February 2024, Starbucks and Workers United announced an agreement to bargain a national framework contract for union baristas, establish a fair process for organizing, and work to settle outstanding litigation. The path forward was heralded as a ​“breakthrough,” but the process has since stalled out under Niccol’s leadership. He has refused invitations to meet.

Workers United members — and particularly the barista bargaining delegates — have approached the path forward in a spirit of collaboration and confidentiality. However, Starbucks has broken with that commitment over the last several months by giving false statements about bargaining to the press, misleading the public on the state of contract negotiations, and resuming union busting in stores. Now, we must tell investors, customers, and the public what has been happening so that we are not misunderstood.

First, a quick recap of what bargaining looked like last year: Starbucks representatives and 150 union delegates started in-person negotiations in April 2024, with another 250 baristas participating in the process virtually. Over nine months, we reached 33 tentative agreements on important, but largely non-economic issues to tangibly improve the workplace.

We started to see a shift in the company’s tone last fall, which coincided with Niccol’s tenure and major shifts inside the c-suite. In December, talks broke down. Starbucks said no to our proposals, and rather than negotiate to find a middle ground, Starbucks put forth their own proposal that didn’t improve wages or benefits in the first year of the contract for union baristas. It only guaranteed that in the future, union baristas would get an annual raise of 1.5%. Starbucks didn’t include any measures to address hours or understaffing. Workers United filed an ULP charge alleging that Starbucks was failing to bargain in good faith, and 5,000 baristas waged the largest ULP strike in the company’s history in December 2024.

We entered into mediation in February 2025, and Starbucks put forward a package that had only minuscule improvements. The nearly 500 barista bargaining delegates overwhelmingly rejected that offer in April. In retrospect, I believe the company used mediation as cover to pacify and buy time to get past earnings reports.

Starbucks executives told us privately they needed to focus on their June manager’s conference, after which we would return to discussing the union contract. We obliged as they spent a week at a glitzy Las Vegas junket, but after their green siren ads disappeared from the Sphere, they failed to return to productive discussion. 

Starbucks has said there is ​“no money” to put into the union contract. We don’t find that credible. By our estimate, the remaining economic aspects of a multi-year contract would cost Starbucks less than one average day’s sales.

Meanwhile, the company is on a massive spending spree. Niccol was paid $96 million for 120 days of work last year, flying near the top of a recent list of American CEO-to-worker pay ratios at 6,666 times that of a typical barista. They’ve leased and outfitted a Newport Beach satellite office, and they’re paying a private jet pilot $360,000 a year, plus benefits, so Niccol can commute to Seattle. The Las Vegas managers conference, which featured musical performances from Bruno Mars and Janelle Monáe cost $81 million and of course dampened their profits

They’ve allocated $6 million to executive bonuses and tens of millions to management-side law firms like Littler Mendelson. They’ve spent millions to train baristas on new policies Niccol has put in place, including no free water, no free access to restrooms, mandated writing on cups, and a restrictive dress code. These don’t help baristas improve how they are able to serve their customers.

That’s why workers have taken action. When Starbucks broke with years of precedent by telling workers at a Seattle store to ​“seek unemployment” during a temporary store closure instead of helping them secure shifts at other locations, baristas walked out.

When a Philadelphia-area manager allegedly threw union literature and pins in the trash while workers were on shift, they filed a complaint with the NLRB. They’ve delivered demands to their managers, shared their heartfelt personal experiences, organized their stores, and gone on strike. Some baristas have even taken arrest in peaceful protest of the company’s failures.

Niccol should meet their courage with courage of his own.

Starbucks is on the ropes as its competitors are thriving. Investors should know that if Starbucks continues to stonewall and fight with union baristas, they aren’t afraid to do what it takes to win the fair contract that they’ve earned. This includes going on strike if they must, which has the potential to further damage the brand.

So, what now? In order to turn things around, the coffee giant must make peace with union baristas and make significant moves to improve their workplaces.

When that happens, we can all work together to get ​“Back to Starbucks.” But for now, the choice is simple: finalize fair contracts for baristas, or we’ll see you on the picket line.