Under the slogan “Rise of the Red Cups” employees of more than 100 Starbucks stores around the world USA to plan demonstrate outside chain stores today to protest against the company’s anti-union actions.

The organization behind the initiative, Starbucks Workers United (SWU), is using as its campaign slogan a major marketing campaign by a coffee chain that plans to give away free red reusable cups to customers who buy a drink at one of the thousands of stores.

SWU members plan to stand in front of some shops and offer their mug.

“They claim their right to form a union without intimidation or fear,” the organization said in a statement.

In late 2021, a group of Starbucks workers in Buffalo unexpectedly formed the first in-store union directly operated by the chain in the country. Chain workers followed, and now more than 260 stores have joined SWU.

But company management has been slow to start negotiations on collective bargaining agreements, and the union accuses it of intimidating its members. Among them are the fraudulent dismissal of workers seeking to unionize, or even the permanent closure of stores.

The US Labor Law Board (NLRB) filed dozens of complaints against the company. In August, a judge specifically forced Starbucks to rehire seven employees at a Memphis, Tennessee store who were fired for attempting to unionize.

Starbucks did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for today’s protest.

Thanks to the efforts of coffee shop workers, several unions have registered advances to companies that have so far managed to fend off their workers’ demands, including Amazon, Apple, Chipotle or Trader’s Joe.

But faced with uncompromising company management, workers are still trying to turn their victories into tangible progress.

“If Starbucks can break the law to hinder its workers’ unionization efforts, other companies could follow suit,” notes SWU, which expresses concerns “for the future of unionism in the United States.”

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}