A man exits the Starbucks on Indiana Avenue with a drink in hand. He makes his way through the picketers and waves to them as he walks away.
“Understaffing, lousy pay, that’s how our coffee is made,” the picketers chant.
A young woman pulls into an open parking space outside the store and runs in to get her drink and pastry. On her way out, she doesn’t say anything to the baristas protesting and holding signs in the sub-freezing temperatures.
“No Contract, No Coffee!”
“Don’t cross our picket line.”
Some cars driving by honk to show their support.
Last Friday, baristas from this Starbucks joined an indefinite nationwide strike, which began Nov. 13. The location closed on Friday and didn’t reopen until this morning. Barista and union member Sophie Lee says the store reopened today to make up for underperforming during the holiday season when students leave town.
“We're across the street from the Sample Gates, so this day when all the students are coming back, tends to be a bigger day for business,” she said. “And they just really want those profits…they've been raising prices every year, and I've seen it since before Covid. Every year, the price of a latte goes up, the quality doesn't go up and my pay doesn't really go up. It's just the upper management and the executives who get all of those profits.”
Lee said many baristas are not showing up to work because of the strike; she received a text from her manager asking when she was planning to come back and how long she would be out, but she did not respond. Managers from other Starbucks locations are being called in to run the Indiana Avenue store instead.
“Our store is being entirely run by managers from other stores who have always refused to come in and help us when we're understaffed,” she said. “Many times I'll come in to work a shift, and management has prioritized the morning shift so that there will be five or six people in the store, and within a few hours of me arriving in the afternoon, I'm the only person running bar, and I have maybe one or two other coworkers, and we're slammed because we're still getting the same amount of customers coming back from classes, but we just have less people.”
Over 120 stores and 2,500 baristas across the nation are participating in the strike. The Starbucks Workers United Union is hoping to negotiate a contract with better working conditions and job security. The union has been trying to negotiate a contract since last year.
“I get paid around $16 an hour, and I usually work around 30 hours per week,” said barista and union member Eliza Ortiz. “I still don't make enough. Living in Bloomington is very expensive. I can't afford to pay rent and food or get my medication.”
Ortiz, who has been at the Indiana Avenue location since 2022, is not getting paid her usual rate, but said the union is still giving them some money. She said they have also received food donations, money and coffee from Hopscotch Coffee.
“We're sacrificing our finances to be here, but we're fighting the good fight,” she said. “We want our contract. Starbucks, please come back to the bargaining table.”
A statement sent to the National Law Review by Jaci Anderson, a Starbucks spokesperson, said strikes on Nov. 13 disrupted fewer than one percent of stores across the country. The company expected to exceed sales expectations for “Reusable Red Cup Day.”
“The facts show people like working at Starbucks,” Anderson said. “Partner engagement is up, turnover is nearly half the industry average, and we get more than 1 million job applications a year. Any agreement needs to reflect the reality that Starbucks offers the best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits for hourly partners.”
Picketers outside the store are urging people not to go to any Starbucks location and instead to buy from local coffee shops. They plan to protest outside the Indiana Avenue location 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. every day.
“I've been making your coffee for five years,” Lee said, “and if you would like for me to keep making your coffee and be able to pay my rent, feed myself and my cat, then I hope that you can boycott the company until our strike is resolved.”
