Unionized Starbucks baristas say sudden store closures last weekend, including three in Pittsburgh, prove they need a contract with the coffeehouse chain.

Lack of a contract leaves little legal recourse to hold the company accountable for closings and layoffs, said Cas Borowitz, a Workers United staff organizer and barista at Starbucks’ store on the University of Pittsburgh campus.

Instead, Borowitz said, Starbucks has decided the timing of closures and terms of severance agreements without worker input.

“Every day, they seem to make it more and more clear they are prioritizing their own profits over the lives of baristas,” she said.

Borowitz was one of about 20 baristas who rallied for a contract Monday outside the Starbucks cafe at 4765 Liberty Ave. in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood.

Starbucks Workers United organized “practice pickets” in 35 cities across the country, including Pittsburgh, as talks for a first collective bargaining agreement between the union and company remain stuck.

Since Monday was just a test run, customers could still grab a coffee without going against the union. But union members say things could get real if Starbucks doesn’t return to the bargaining table to tackle crucial issues like wages, benefits and staffing.

“We are the backbone of a multibillion-dollar corporation,” said Kye Neilsen, a barista at the store where Forbes Avenue and Atwood Street meet in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood. “We will take away our labor if we have to.”

Starbucks’ most recent proposal on core issues was “absolutely offensive,” Borowitz said.

On the company’s website, Starbucks said Workers United pushed forward in April with an “incomplete framework” for single-store contracts that undermined ongoing talks for a deal covering all stores.

“The union’s actions have only caused further delay in reaching a mutual agreement on the path forward,” the company said. “We’re ready to finalize a reasonable contract for represented partners, but we need the union to return to the bargaining table to finish the job.”

Shifting store counts

Since 2021, Starbucks Workers United has grown from a fed-up band of baristas at a shop in Buffalo, N.Y., to a movement encompassing roughly 650 stores and 12,000 employees across the country. About 20 of those shops are in the Pittsburgh area, including recent additions in Moon and Ross townships.

Those figures took a slight hit this weekend, when Starbucks shut down about 200 of its 18,000 locations with only a few days’ notice for workers. In Pittsburgh, stores on East Carson Street in South Side, Butler Street in Lawrenceville and and West North Avenue on the North Side shuttered.

Of the three, only the South Side store was unionized, according to Borowitz. Across the country, the wave of closures affected about 10% of union stores, she said.

“Store closure decisions have been made through a thoughtful, lawful process and union representation is not a factor,” Starbucks said on its website. “We’re working with Workers United on next steps for the partners they represent.”

The company said it will transfer workers to other locations, if possible. Those who can’t be placed are getting severance packages worth between 30 and 84 hours of pay and three months of health insurance premiums, Business Insider reported.

‘Back to Starbucks’

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol announced the closures Thursday as the latest thrust of his “Back to Starbucks” plan, an effort to shake off sagging sales and restore investor interest.

The company’s stock price has fallen about 13% in the past year.

Niccol’s vision has come with changes some workers see as needless irritants.

The dress code was tightened to emphasis the iconic green apron, for instance. And workers must now write simple, personalized message on cups — even when orders are backed up, Borowitz was quick to note.

She also claimed Starbucks has not improved its staffing levels, despite promises earlier this year from Niccol.

“The whole Back to Starbucks thing, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with trying to realign with the company’s original values, but they’re saying one thing and doing another,” Borowitz said.

In this turmoil, organizers like Tori Tambellini, a former barista who now works full-time for Workers United, sees a chance to rebuild the number of unionized stores.

“They say the best organizer is a bad boss,” Tambellini said, holding an iced coffee from Dunkin’.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)