More than 1,000 Starbucks baristas at 75 stores in the U.S. have been on strike since Sunday, protesting a new dress code, according to the union representing the company’s workers.
Starting Monday, Starbucks introduced new restrictions on what employees can wear under their green aprons. The updated dress code requires workers at both company-operated and licensed stores in the U.S. and Canada to wear solid black shirts and khaki, black, or blue denim pants.
Before this change, baristas were allowed to wear a wider variety of dark colors and patterned shirts. Starbucks explained that the new dress code is intended to help the green apron stand out and create a more familiar and welcoming environment for customers.
However, Starbucks Workers United, the union that represents employees at 570 of the 10,000 company-operated stores in the U.S., argued that such changes should be discussed through collective bargaining.
“Starbucks has lost its way. Instead of listening to baristas who make the Starbucks experience what it is, they are focused on all the wrong things, like implementing a restrictive new dress code,” said Paige Summers, a shift supervisor in Hanover, Maryland. “Customers don’t care what color our clothes are when they’re waiting 30 minutes for a latte.”
A Starbucks locationSummers and other workers also pointed out that the company continues to sell Starbucks-branded clothing that employees are no longer allowed to wear at work on an internal website. When the dress code was announced, Starbucks said it would provide two free black T-shirts to each employee.
On Wednesday, Starbucks stated that the strike had only a small effect on its 10,000 company-operated U.S. locations.
“Thousands of Starbucks partners came to work this week ready to serve their customers and communities,” the company said in a statement. “It would be more productive if the union would put the same effort into coming back to the table to finalize a reasonable contract.”
Starbucks Workers United has been organizing stores since 2021. So far, the company and the union have not reached a contract, though they agreed to resume negotiations in February 2024.
This week, the union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing Starbucks of failing to negotiate the new dress code.