Dive Brief:

• Starbucks Workers United members and supporters are carrying out an unfair labor practice strike at 115 Starbucks cafes nationwide Wednesday, according to a press release from the Workers United New York and New Jersey Joint Regional Board emailed to Restaurant Dive.
• The strikes come two days after Laxman Narasimhan began his tenure as CEO, almost two weeks ahead of schedule. SBWU said the strikes are a way to “send him a message that the transition in the C-Suite provides an opportunity for the company to stop its unprecedented campaign of union busting and instead partner with its workers and our union.”
• This is one of the largest mobilizations of SBWU members since its holiday season and Red Cup Day strikes late last year. The strike also suggests the union still has considerable strength in its organized shops, despite high turnover in the foodservice industry. 

Dive Insight:

Starbucks Workers United will also host a demonstration outside the company’s Seattle headquarters on Wednesday. In New York City, Workers United plans to file 10 complaints under New York City’s Fair Workweek Law over alleged cuts to hours. 

The strike aims to put pressure on the company ahead of its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday and former CEO Howard Schultz’s appearance before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee next week. On Thursday, Starbucks shareholders will vote on a shareholder proposal — which is backed by major pension funds and opposed by the board — to ask the company to carry out an independent review of its labor relations.

Many of SBWU’s grievances against the company go back months, with workers in New York citing the company’s May decision to withhold new benefits from union workers and its refusal to participate in hybrid negotiations with bargaining committees in the union’s press release.

“We want Starbucks to stop illegally withholding benefits from us and meet us at the bargaining table to negotiate a fair contract. We want Starbucks shareholders to know how Starbucks is NOT putting partners first, and we hope our new CEO will enact positive change in the company,” Faith Bianchi, a Starbucks employee and striker at a Queens store, said in the press release.

Starbucks did not respond to a request for comment, but the company has consistently denied allegations that it has violated labor law, despite a National Labor Relations Board judge’s ruling that the company illegally fired and disciplined union workers in Buffalo, New York.