A Starbucks worker boards the Starbucks union bus after Starbucks workers stood on the picket line with striking members of SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in solidarity with the Netflix studios on July 28, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Starbucks and Workers United, which represents about 500 of its cafes, said Friday they had made “significant progress” in their contract negotiations this week.
The two sides discussed a process to resolve grievances, details related to union representation for Starbucks baristas and other topics Wednesday and Thursday in Atlanta.
The two-day session marked the first time in nearly a year that Starbucks and Workers United came to the bargaining table. This followed an announcement in February that the two sides were ending their bitter standoff.
The coffee giant spent more than two years fighting the union, which is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union. Workers United has widely pushed for higher wages and more consistent schedules, among a range of other priorities.
This week’s negotiations are the closest all unionized locations, which represent a small fraction of Starbucks’ total U.S. footprint, have come to reaching a collective bargaining agreement. However, there is still a long way to go.
“There is still much to do, but we are determined to work together,” the two sides said in a joint statement.
Starbucks and the union plan to meet again in late May to continue working on the framework that will inform each single store contract. Individual stores will still need to negotiate and ratify their own contracts once this foundation is laid.
Labor law does not require that the employer and the union enter into a collective agreement, only that both negotiate in good faith. After a year, workers who lose confidence in the union can ask to be removed, slowing down negotiations.
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