AU YDSA rallied outside Starbucks on New Mexico Avenue in solidarity with employees
On March 22, the American University chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) protested in front of the Starbucks on New Mexico Avenue to support workers’ efforts to unionize the location. The week before Starbucks’ annual shareholder meeting, stores across the country participated in a protest against poor conditions and actions that suggested they were choosing profits over employees.
YDSA members gathered outside the Starbucks location on New Mexico Avenue at 1:30 pm with current and former Starbucks employees and event coordinators for the union effort. Students dressed in purple YSDA t-shirts stood in solidarity with workers as they collected signatures, held banners and chanted.
Dan Prengel, a former Starbucks employee and Assistant Director of Data Analysis at the Kogod School of Business at AU spoke about the difficulties he and his coworkers experienced at Starbucks.
“We were always understaffed,” said Prengel. “Even before the pandemic, we were always missing things. And since we’re the people on the front lines talking to customers, it comes down to us, what we were willing to deal with. From our store manager to the very bottom, nothing really changed.”
Starbucks locations throughout the US have grappled with similar staffing and supply issues. In Montclair, New Jersey, a union effort succeeded after community members supported workers in their demands for higher wages, better working conditions, and planning solutions after months of dealing with short staffing and a lack of supplies.
However, other locations have not been so lucky. Since December 2021, the National Labor and Relations Board has issued more than 260 charges and 1,400 alleged labor law violations, including charges against CEO Howard Schultz, who threatened a worker who expressed support for the organization’s unionization.
“We have seen during the pandemic that all these companies make record profits but lay off people and have worse services. They want to save as much for themselves as they can. And you know, Howard doesn’t care, we saw him come back to try to take down the union last year. Now he’s out again,” Prengel said.
The reason Starbucks is against unionization is clear to many of the protesting employees.
“Money. They don’t want to pay their employees correctly. They don’t want to pay a living wage. They don’t want to pay the extra benefits,” Prengel said.
The demand for better wages is consistent among all Starbucks employees. However, low wages affect marginalized communities differently. 63% of Latino workers earn low wages compared to 37% of their white counterparts.
Starbucks has had a negative track record regarding their representation and equity efforts. The arrest of two black men sitting silently in a Starbucks in Philadelphia in 2018 prompted the closure of approximately 8,000 locations nationwide to provide them with anti-bias training. Some people applauded previous CEO Kevin Johnson for this while others saw it as a corporate ruse.
“The union support started a few years ago with accusations that they were homophobic and racist. There was definitely a little push to boycott Starbucks,” said Kritika Sachar, a sophomore at AU studying political science and co-chair of YDSA AU.
A week before the Annual Shareholder Meeting, Starbucks felt pressure from activists across the country.
“I think union busting doesn’t allow places to rebel against the corporation. Honestly, I think they are putting on a worse image of themselves by busting unions. People who support unions attract attention,” Sachar said.
The protesters were confident in their efforts to bolster Starbucks unions in DC and across the country.
“He (Schultz) can take as long as he needs to because he has the money and he thinks that’s giving him the power. But, he doesn’t understand that the people on the front lines are the ones with the real power. They are causing change by unionizing, and if their store can’t unionize, they are supporting other stores. We can and will eventually unionize,” Prengel said.