LOS ANGELES—A warm cup of coffee can ease an early morning on film and TV sets, but cultural workers are rebuking Starbucks as they show solidarity with striking union baristas. Hollywood actors added their voices to the thousands supporting the nationwide unfair labor practice (ULP) strike by Starbucks workers at a rally on Dec. 16.
The “Red Cup Rebellion”—the name given to the Starbucks strike—is well underway, after over 1,000 union baristas began it on Nov. 13, protesting what they called Starbucks’ historic union-busting and its failure to finalize a fair contract.
Union baristas were joined by SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin, Workers United President Lynne Fox, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Yvonne Wheeler, President of the California Federation of Labor Lorena Gonzalez, union members, and supporters across the labor movement in the latest show of support for workers’ demands.
Astin highlighted Starbucks’ 10-K report, an annual document a company must send its shareholders, noting that “It’s legal, so they gotta be careful what they say.” He pointed out several important details from the report.
“What is Starbucks saying to Wall Street? Well, in the all-important section on risks, they explicitly identify labor organizing as holding a material business liability. Material. That word means something; it means it’s real,” the SAG-AFTRA president remarked.
“They don’t stop there, they freely—and correctly—acknowledge that how the company chooses to respond to labor organizing could be extremely painful to them economically…. The company explicitly warns investors that its most valuable asset—its brand—can be damaged by how it treats its people.”
Astin asserted that Starbucks as a company was acting “irrationally” and that “as more and more stores go union, the company’s shortsightedness will become glaring and indefensible. It will become clear that Starbucks management is creating structural fragility. This strike is not a disruption. This strike is a demand for stability. Investors, baristas, and customers all want the same thing—stability, predictability.”
Chants of “¡Starbucks, escucha, estamos en la lucha!”—“Starbucks, listen, we are in the struggle!”—rang out from the crowd, spearheaded by members of AFL-CIO and California Fast Food Workers Union as they condemned the coffee giant’s alleged unresolved labor law violations.
Arvon Nicholson, who is a barista at a Starbucks located in Long Beach, Cali., spoke to the crowd, noting that Starbucks likes to call baristas “partners,” but that “they haven’t earned the right to call us that yet, because our ‘partnership’ with them has been uncooperative and grossly imbalanced.”
Nicholson went on to say that the company would “rather undercut and low-ball their own ‘partners’ instead of spending what would amount to a day’s worth of sales to settle our contract.”
Referring to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol as “Mr. Brian Nickel-n-dime,” Nicholson noted that the company had the biggest CEO-to-worker pay gap in the S&P 500 for 2024. S&P 500 stands for Standard and Poor’s 500, a stock market index tracking the stock performance of the 500 leading companies in the United States.
According to the AFL-CIO, Niccol earns an estimated $96 million (6,666 times more) than the median worker’s salary of $14, 674—an amount approximately $1,000 below the U.S. Federal Poverty Level.
“It’s pretty clear—we’re fighting for fair take-home pay, resolution of hundreds of unfair labor charges against Starbucks, and stronger labor protections to end their union busting…. All of our demands are beyond reasonable,” Nicholson concluded.
Downtown Disney Starbucks barista and SAG-AFTRA member Christi Gomoljak also spoke, saying that “Brian Niccol’s ineffective leadership is taking us in the wrong direction.”
She continued, “He wants coffee made in four minutes—does restricting our dress code, mask-wearing, adding a partner to stand in the lobby, or forcing us to write on cups get your coffee made faster? No. Our union filed unfair labor practice charges over all of these changes because Starbucks is making them unilaterally without bargaining with the union, which is required by law.”
The Los Angeles rally is the latest in a series of widespread escalations that have surged ahead of the critical holiday season. Union baristas are ramping up pressure on Starbucks, with 3,800 employees across more than 130 cities now engaged in the Red Cup Rebellion nationwide. Organizers claim that the strike is well on its way to becoming the longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Regarding public support, more than 225,000 people have signed the “No Contract, No Coffee” pledge not to buy Starbucks until union baristas secure a fair contract and end their ULP strike. Various elected officials, such as New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders, have joined striking baristas on the picket line.
According to organizers of the strike, many are pledging to “not cross baristas’ growing picket lines until Starbucks remedies its unfair labor practices and also returns to the bargaining table with new proposals to improve pay, staffing, and scheduling for Starbucks’ baristas.”
Adding a Hollywood touch when describing the fight of Starbucks workers, Gomoljak told the crowd: “In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rose Tico says that’s how we’re gonna win—not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
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