• A strike by Starbucks baristas is expanding, their union said.
• The strike would be expanded to more than 300 locations on Tuesday, it said.
• The union is demanding better pay and said Starbucks has failed to resolve many unfair labor practice cases.

The Starbucks workers’ strike will expand to more than 300 locations on Tuesday, a union representing the company’s baristas said.

Starbucks Workers United said Monday that worker strikes would reach new locations such as Atlanta and Buffalo, as well as other locations that had not been announced, The Washington Post reported.

This means that some stores of the largest coffee chain in the USA will be affected on Christmas Eve.

Starbucks workers began striking on Friday over what the union told BI earlier that it was over wage issues and unresolved cases related to labor disputes.

The union said on social media that the company had not proposed new wage increases for unionized baristas and had backed away from a path agreed with workers regarding collective bargaining and wage organization.

“The company claims to have top-notch benefits and wages, but for many workers that is not the reality,” it said. “Starbucks workers often struggle to get hours worked to qualify for benefits, and annual raises do not match inflation.”

It urged people: “While we are on strike, support workers by NOT shopping at Starbucks.”

More than 60 locations are temporarily closed because of the strikes, the Post reported.

Philly Workers United, a union representing food service workers, said Monday on X that five union Starbucks locations across Philadelphia had closed the day before.

As BI previously reported, baristas also went on strike in locations such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Columbus, Denver and Pittsburgh.

The union has also shared footage of striking workers in Texas, Massachusetts, New York and Oregon.

The union called it quits

The Washington Post reported that baristas are expected to return to work on Christmas or the day after.

It is not clear whether the strikes will resume later.

A Starbucks spokesperson told BI earlier this week that the company “offers a competitive average wage of over $18 per hour and best-in-class benefits.”

They said the company also offers competitive benefits, including “health care, free college tuition, paid family leave and company stock grants.”

The spokesperson said that “no other retailer offers such a comprehensive pay and benefits package.”

“Workers United’s proposals call for an immediate 64% increase in the minimum wage for hourly associates and 77% over the life of a three-year contract. This is not sustainable,” they added.

The company also said in a public statement that union delegates had “early ended” this week’s round of negotiations and that it was “disappointing that they did not return to the negotiating table given the progress made so far.”

The company wrote: “We are ready to continue negotiations to reach an agreement. We need the union to return to the negotiating table.”

Shay Mannik, a striking barista from Denver who has worked at Starbucks for two years, told Business Insider: “We’ve been in contract negotiations with Starbucks for several months now and everything was going smoothly up until this point – until then.” “to offer us a viable economic package.”

“They just didn’t offer us anything close to a living wage.”

Starbucks has 11,161 self-operated stores and 7,263 licensed stores in North America, BI previously reported. This means that branches with striking workers only make up a small percentage.

But the union said it was still the largest strike ever against Starbucks.

The union said last week that an “overwhelming” 98% of union partners voted to authorize the strike.

In a recently published post on

“As baristas across the country struggle to pay their rent and get the hours they need to qualify for benefits,” it continued.

Brian Niccol became the company’s CEO in September and spoke of wanting to improve conditions for the company’s baristas.

He recently announced a new parental leave policy for employees in the US that will increase paid leave for parents starting in March. It applies to branch employees with an average weekly working time of at least 20 hours.