E-Town Starbucks employees strike Tuesday in protest of ‘unfair labor practices’

Employees at the Starbucks located at 1703 North Dixie Highway went on strike Tuesday in protest of what they described as unfair labor practices by the company’s upper management.

Barista Anastacia Shelton was among the striking workers Tuesday. She said Starbucks has not closed bargaining with Starbucks Workers United, the union representing the Dixie Highway store and the store at 111 The Loop, for over a year, which means calls from workers for better benefits, wages that keep pace with cost of living changes, and improved distribution of labor have gone unanswered.

“They’ve been pushing it off, and they haven’t done anything to give us any of what we’ve been asking for or even find a middle ground with us,” Shelton said.

Starbucks Workers United says on social media that stores across the country are also protesting what they called illegal changes made to the company dress code during the bargaining process. Shelton said the company says the dress code change is for the customers, but customers have not said anything to them about what they are wearing.

“It also isn’t something that affects the taste of coffee, but it is discriminating a bit against our LGBTQ+ community within our stores,” Shelton said. “It’s making them very uncomfortable. There’s a lot of things like gender dysphoria that’s being caused by the changes to the dress code, and it’s very much not welcoming to the trans community that we have a lot of in our stores.”

Starbucks said in a statement Tuesday: “Thousands of Starbucks partners (employees) came to work today ready to serve their customers and communities. The biggest update to our dress code is simple: wear a black shirt—either your own or one we provide. While Workers United, which represents less than 5 percent of our workforce, attempted to create disruption in a handful of stores, the overwhelming majority of our 10,000 us company-operated stores remain open and are serving customers as normal. It would be more productive if the union would put the same effort into coming back to the table to finalize a reasonable contract.”