Starbucks Wants You to Talk About the Frapp, Not This

Starbucks: “Look, a magical drink!”

Baristas: “Look, an unfair labor practice strike” .

While Starbucks rolled out its viral Unicorn Frappuccino for one weekend only, hundreds of union baristas at stores from California to Missouri to Pennsylvania walked off the job on an unfair labor practice strike. They called out the company for leaning on gimmicks that make their jobs harder instead of simplifying its menu like promised, paying a living wage, and listening to the workers who make the Starbucks experience.

“When the company does badly, baristas get punished. When the company does well, billionaires get rewarded,” said a Minnesota union barista during a picket this weekend. “Our wages keep falling behind inflation, and our hours keep getting cut, while the company’s revenue balloons. We’re making more and more money for them and getting less and less back.”

Watch, share, and comment on these videos to support baristas!

Nashville, TN: Collective power is back on the menu . Right in Starbucks’s new corporate backyard (freshly handed a $30M taxpayer-funded subsidy ), baristas walked out on strike.

Santa Cruz, CA: Another frenzied drink launch, another time Starbucks lies about supporting us. Gimmicks get PR, baristas get left behind. Our union won’t be fooled.

Manchester, VT: Hours and pay have gotten so low that many baristas rely on SNAP and Medicaid to get by, even though it’d take less than one day’s sales for Starbucks to fix it. Enough is enough.

Turns out baristas would rather have a living wage and a menu that isn’t constantly changing and chasing trends. The math isn’t complicated. : starting wages are $16/hr or less in 43 states, and workers can’t get enough hours to qualify for benefits. Baristas know what fixes it: better staffing, real hours, higher take-home pay, and real protections.

In solidarity,

Starbucks Workers United