Starbucks baristas to return to work after five-day strike

Just in time for the holidays, thousands of Starbucks baristas are expected to be back at work Wednesday after a five-day strike. 

The strike shut down more than 300 locations, including some in the Los Angeles area, after more than 5,000 Starbucks workers walked out last Tuesday.

The union representing the baristas, called Starbucks Workers United says it is ready to return to the bargaining table.

Talks with the company had stalled over pay, staffing and scheduling.

Additionally, the union said it will strategize in the coming days on the next steps in their campaign to win higher wages, among other benefits.    

In Los Angeles, workers picketed at a store in the Cypress Park area Tuesday -- joining baristas who went on strike last week across 43 states.    

The actions began Friday, with a location at Alameda Avenue and Shelton Street in Burbank among the stores shut down.

The union accused Starbucks of failing to honor earlier commitments to improve collective bargaining and resolve legal disputes.    

Starbucks Workers United says the company proposed an economic package with no new wage increases for union baristas and a guarantee of only 1.5% in future years, amounting to less than 50 cents an hour.    

The final days before Christmas are traditionally one of Starbucks' busiest customer traffic times of the year, according to the union.    

Michelle Eisen, a barista and bargaining delegate, noted the union was ready to exchange economic proposals with Starbucks in October. But after the company failed to negotiate in the following months, they decided to take action.

“This is backtracking on months and months of progress and promises from the company to work toward an end-of-year framework ratification,” Eisen said in a statement. ``We're ready to do what it takes to show the company the consequences of not keeping their promises to baristas.”   

In an open letter, Sara Kelley, executive vice president and chief partner officer for Starbucks, said over the course of the weekend and Monday, a very small number of stores were temporarily closed -- about 60.    

More than 10,000 company-operated stores in the U.S. opened as planned and were busy with customers, she added.    

Of Tuesday's action, Kelley said the vast majority of stores, about 97% to 99%, would be open with very limited impact to the company's overall operations.

“Workers United proposals call for an immediate increase in the minimum wage of hourly partners by 64%, and by 77% over the life of a three-year contract,'' Kelley wrote in her letter.

“These proposals are not sustainable, especially when the investments we continually make to our total benefits package are the hallmarks of what differentiates us as an employer -- and, what makes us proud to work at Starbucks.”

The company said it offers an average wage of more than $18 an hour and provides what it calls best-in-class benefits, including health care, free college tuition, paid family leave and stock grants.    

According to the union, in September, Brian Niccol became CEO with a compensation package worth at least $113 million, which is 10,000 times the median hourly wage for a barista.

The union argued the company has enough to offer appropriate wage increases for workers.

“I am paid $15.49 an hour as a barista, while Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol's compensation package has been valued at more than $50,000 an hour when you break it down,'' Lauren Hollingsworth, a barista, said in a statement.    

Hollingsworth added that several of her co-workers drive 30 minutes to get to work because they can't afford to live closer.    

“My coworkers and I made the difficult decision to launch unfair labor practice strikes in hundreds of stores across the country because we know that investing in baristas is the only way to turn things around,” Hollingsworth said in a statement.

Kelley maintained Starbucks is committed to reaching an agreement and is willing to return to the bargaining table, claiming the union was the one to cut off negotiations last week.

“It is disappointing they didn't return to the table given the progress we've made to date. Since April, we've held more than nine bargaining sessions over 20 days,'' according to a statement from the company. “We've reached over thirty (30) meaningful agreements on hundreds of topics Workers United delegates told us were important to them, including many economic issues.”

Meanwhile, baristas at the Starbucks on Sunset Boulevard and La Brea Avenue filed a petition Friday with the National Labor Relations Board for a union election, seeking to join more than 520 Starbucks locations across the country where baristas are unionized.