Originally published in the Winter/Spring 2025 edition of the Virginia Defender, issue 76, printed March 26. Reproduced here for accessibility and archival purposes. To find other stories in the Winter/Spring 2025 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

By Christopher Walker

This past Christmas Eve, customers looking for a hot cup of coffee at many Richmond-area Starbucks were met with the warmth and energy of striking workers.

On Dec. 24, workers at several local union Starbucks cafes engaged in a day of strike activities. They joined workers at more than 500 other unionized Starbucks locations around the country who engaged in labor stoppages from Dec. 20 through 24. Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) initiated the strikes in an attempt to bring corporate leadership back to the negotiating table.

According to SBWU lead negotiator Jasmine Leli, speaking on a prestrike open call Dec. 19, in September, the union was five months into negotiations for its first contract with the fast-casual food giant. Leli reported that the process was going well– until Starbucks hired new CEO Brian Niccol, previously of Chipotle.

(The Guardian reports that Niccol is paid 10,000 times the typical Starbucks barista.)

At this point, Leli said, the tone of the negotiations changed and the SBWU team stopped seeing progress. Ultimately, she said, the contract Starbucks offered in December afforded the workers no improvements to their health insurance and a paltry 2% raise. Following this offer, the workforce voted overwhelmingly to authorize the holiday season strike.

Another reason SBWU leadership cited for the strike was the hundreds of Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) charges filed by Starbucks workers they say Starbucks has refused to address.

Since the first U.S. Starbucks location, in Buffalo, N.Y., unionized in 2021, the number of union Starbucks cafes in America has ballooned. SBWU now represents more than 12,000 workers, a notable example of the heightening union activity around the country.

Striking on Christmas Eve, one of the busiest retail consumer days on the calendar, was a show of strength from SBWU workers, who demonstrated that they could seriously slow Starbucks’ corporate earnings on a day the company hoped to cash in on the frenzy of the holiday season.

Richmond has six union Starbucks. At the Arthur Ashe Boulevard location on Christmas Eve, workers and their allies lined the sidewalk outside the shop, with a strike leader reporting that at one point the picket line grew to as many as 30 people.

Those assembled on the picket line socialized and chanted, “No Contract, No Coffee!” or “When We Fight, We Win!” Many of the cars passing the picket line honked their support for the workers, who also shared the story of their struggle for better pay and working conditions with people walking by.

Meanwhile, the interior of the Starbucks looked barren and lonely without the workers who usually take the orders and make the drinks. For the half-hour The Virginia Defender visited the picket line, only one customer crossed the line to enter the cafe. Starbucks workers and their supporters certainly earned their excitement and high spirits. A national strike on Christmas Eve showed the formidable strength of organized baristas. However, Starbucks corporate leadership seems intent on withholding a fair wage from their employees.

As of January, both parties had agreed to enter mediation.