According to the Workers United Union, thousands of employees at hundreds of Starbucks locations will walk out on the coffee chain’s key Red Cup Day promotional event this week due to staffing and scheduling issues.
Starbucks gives away free reusable holiday-themed cups with coffee purchases on Red Cup Day, which falls on Thursday this week, right in the middle of the busy holiday season.
According to a statement issued by Workers United, Red Cup Day is “one of the most infamously hard, understaffed days for the baristas” at Starbucks, and the union has called on baristas and supervisors at all Starbucks locations to strike on Nov. 16.
Last year, the union called for protests at more than 100 Starbucks locations on Red Cup Day.
“We are aware that Workers United has publicized a day of action at a small subset of our U.S. stores next week… Workers United hasn’t agreed to meet to progress contract bargaining in more than four months and has yet to deliver on the campaign promises they’ve made,” Starbucks told Reuters in a statement.
According to the union’s website, Workers United represents over 360 unionized stores and over 9,000 Starbucks employees.
