Around 30 Starbucks employees and union allies protesting outside one of the coffee giant’s Columbus locations demanded a fair union contract from the global corporation.
During the hour-long protest outside the Starbucks at 1784 N. High St. near the University District on Sept. 28, the approximately 30 participants yelled various call-and-response chants like, “What’s outrageous? What they pay us,” and “Understaffing, lousy pay; that is how your coffee’s made.”
A few speakers addressed the crowd over a microphone, sharing their frustration that Starbucks refuses to settle a union contract, which they hope would ensure more stable working conditions, better staffing, and higher pay.
“We are the ones who make the stores run; we are the ones who pull the shots; we are the ones who get up every morning and show up and make the connections with our customers that make the business what it is,” Starbucks employee Ruby Walters told the crowd. “And they think we don’t deserve cost-of-living increases or people on our floor to actually make the brand what they want it to be. Shame.”
Starbucks Workers United represents roughly 650 stores and more than 12,000 employees, with this protest part of a national wave of pickets across 35 cities, according to a news release from the union. If the corporation were to settle a union contract with Workers United, it would apply to all unionized stores.
Sabina Aguirre, another picket attendee, has worked for Starbucks for almost a year. She said she logs an average of 35-40 hours a week, and is making “not even close” to what it would cost to support herself long-term.
“There’s no reason that we should be working 40-hour weeks and not be able to afford to live,” Aguirre told The Dispatch. “It’s just not sustainable.”
Settling a union contract would cost Starbucks “less than one average day’s sales,” the union news release contends. While the average Starbucks barista’s salary is less than $15,000 a year, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol made $96 million for four months of work in 2024 — “the biggest CEO-to-worker pay gap” in the nation, the release states.
A few days ago, Starbucks announced it was closing hundreds of locations that were viewed as underperforming, in turn cutting around 900 jobs. At the time of the announcement, no Columbus-area or Ohio stores were on that list.
Though not explicitly tied to the Columbus picketing, Aguirre said it’s another way the Starbucks corporation has shown “they don’t care for their employees.”
“They view us as dispensable,” Aguirre said. “I think the store closures were a really big testament to that.”
Aguirre emphasized that the baristas involved in this ongoing union dispute care deeply about their customers and doing their jobs well, but doing so has become more difficult amid current working conditions.
“We don’t want to go on strike,” Aguirre said. “We don’t want to have to take these actions. But if it is necessary to get that contract, we are willing to do whatever we need to.”
Reporter Emma Wozniak can be reached at ewozniak@dispatch.com or @emma_wozniak_ on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Starbucks employees picket outside Columbus store for union contract, better pay
Reporting by Emma Wozniak, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
