© Reuters. Starbucks workers attend a protest as part of a collective action over a dispute over Pride decor, outside a Starbucks Manhattan store in New York City, New York, U.S. June 25, 2023. REUTERS/David de Delgado
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Written by Hilary Ross and Caroline Valtkevich
(Reuters) – Workers at dozens of Starbucks Americas (NASDAQ) locations staged strikes on Sunday to express their anger at barista union accusations that managers at several American coffee shops removed rainbow flags and decorations supporting LGBTQ+ Pride Month.
About a dozen Starbucks workers picketed outside New York’s Astor Place location in lower Manhattan Sunday afternoon near the path of the city’s Pride parade, chanting: “New York is a union city! On strike! Shut it down!”
Union members handed out flyers and spoke to bystanders about the event, while many customers chose not to enter in support of the strike.
As Pride parades kicked off in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and Starbucks’ hometown of Seattle, some baristas and others working for the coffee chain said they were angered by the dispute.
“We are unwaveringly supportive of the LGBTQIA2+ community,” a company spokesperson said Sunday. “It would be inaccurate to report that Starbucks stores are banning any decorations since there has been no change to company policy on the matter.”
“We continue to be deeply concerned about misinformation being spread about one-stop shop environments, our company culture, and the benefits we offer our partners,” the spokesperson said.
Although the conflict is getting attention now, it began brewing a year ago, when the United Workers union said the company threatened union organizers — many of whom say they are gay or transgender — with reduced hours that would make them unable to qualify for health insurance. , which covers sex reassignment surgery and other confirmation procedures.
Starbucks denied it changed coverage, calling the accusations “false allegations” in a letter dated June 14 to International Workers Union President Lynn Fox and seen by Reuters.
The company’s health insurance has covered gender confirmation surgery since 2012. In 2018, it also began covering treatment that other plans consider “cosmetic,” including breast augmentation, hair transplants, and facial feminization.
The coffee chain also denied that it had banned Pride decorations, calling the allegation “blatant fear-mongering” by the union, according to the letter.
Starbucks has spent decades building its reputation as a progressive company that supports LGBTQ+ workers and customers. In 1988, it began offering hard-to-find perks like health insurance to same-sex domestic partners. Later, she entered the legal battle in the US Supreme Court in support of marriage equality.
“As soon as we decided to unionize, they were like, we’re tired of this progressive stuff,” said Jackie Zhou, 21, shift supervisor at New York City’s Starbucks on Astor Place, where workers staged a strike Sunday.
Maggie McCune, who was heading to a Starbucks on Astor Place, turned around after learning about the strike.
“If people are going to be affected by this, I’m with them,” McCune said, not the company.
Since late 2022, Starbucks has been in bargaining talks with more than 300 union-owned locations in the United States.
Pro-union baristas have asked Starbucks for stronger protections from discrimination, among other proposals.
To date, none of the newly unionized American coffee shops has made a deal with the company regarding an employment contract.
Change the tone
In 2020, then-Starbucks employee Arthur Pratt drew a version of the chain’s siren logo with flowing rainbow hair to celebrate the pride. The company shared the photo around the country and posted it on Instagram, Pratt told Seattle Gay News.
But in November, Pratt, a trans man, was fired in what the union described as retaliation for supporting the organizing drive at his Portland, Oregon, location.
This year, he made a new poster ahead of Pride Month that called out the company, reading, “You can’t say you’re pro-queer and anti-union!”
However, the Human Rights Campaign, which ranks companies on how fair their policies and benefits are to LGBTQ+ employees, gave Starbucks a perfect score for 2022, along with more than 800 other companies.
HRC did not respond to requests for comment.
But as union organizing intensified last year, more employees said their schedules had become erratic, often falling short of the 20 hours a week they needed to qualify for health insurance.
The union’s allegation is one of hundreds of complaints it has filed with the National Labor Relations Board.
Sam Cornetta, a barista at the Farmingville, New York, Starbucks who joined striking co-workers at Astor Place Sunday, said the company was alienating LGBTQ+ workers.
“They used their claim of being a progressive and inclusive company to attract these kind of people,” said Cornetta, 23. “There is a performative aspect.”
