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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Thousands of Starbucks workers have gone on strike at over 60 US locations, demanding better working hours and more pay.
Locations in 45 cities across the country are impacted by the strike, according to Starbucks Workers United. There is no date set for the strike to end and more locations are prepared to join if Starbucks does meet their demands.
“I’m a barista at Starbucks. I worked here for two years, which means I've gotten two yearly raises. Each raise was 30 cents or less. I'm making less than $30,000 a year and I can barely pay rent and groceries," Kai Fritz, a Starbucks barista in New York, told Rudaw.
They launched their strike action November 13, on Starbucks’ annual Red Cup Day when customers can get a free reusable cup with the purchase of any holiday beverage.
“No contract! No coffee!” say the striking workers.
They are calling on customers to boycott Starbucks to force the giant to raise hourly wages to at least 20 dollars, and increase their pay by five percent each year to compensate for rising inflation.
Starbucks' annual revenues are estimated at around $30 billion. CEO Brian Niccol reportedly received over $90 million in compensation in 2024.
Striking workers have threatened to continue their strike for many more weeks to come.
“We're saying for a month and a half that we're going to be shut down until, you know, Starbucks comes to the table and decides whether or not they want to negotiate a contract with us more," said Mark Valle, another striking Starbucks barista.
On Thursday night, the striking workers received the support of New York Mayor-elect Zohram Mamdani who called for a boycott of the coffee chain.
"I was very excited and happy to see our new mayor be able to support us out here. It's nice to see that there, that we have somebody out there that has such a wide platform giving us support," said Kaari Harsila, a Starbucks barista.
Not everyone supports the strike, however.
“You need to work more, I guess, or like, you need to change jobs, but you shouldn't be protesting in front of Starbucks, if you ask me,” said New Yorker Ilia Chkhaidzi.
Starbucks has more than 17,000 coffee shops across the US.
Namo Abdulla contributed to this article.
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